DULUTH, Ga. — Police have determined that a report of an armed robbery at a Duluth gas station, and the accompanying video of the incident, were both fake.
Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson spoke with police who told him two gas station workers were working together in a failed scheme to steal $5,000.
The cashier, Raj Patel, and the supposed robber, Danny Curtis, are both now facing felony conspiracy charges.
Cpl. Ted Sadowski said the incident happened on January 21 at the Shell Station on Buford Highway and Old Peachtree Rd.
Duluth Police responded and investigated the alleged armed robbery, but they told Channel 2 Action News that everything captured in the surveillance video was staged.
“The video is crucial,” Sadowski said.
Once police were able to review the surveillance video, about a week after the alleged robbery, they saw a fake punch, a careful collapse, and then the supposed robber leaving the gas station with cash. When the alleged victim did start to move again a minute later, police said it took nearly 30 minutes for someone to call 911.