Trending Topics

Fla. hostage ends up 5-hour hoax

Woman faces charge of lying to police

By Macollvie Jean-François and Joel Marino
The Sun-Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A West Park woman was arrested Thursday and accused of giving police false information that led to a five-hour SWAT standoff at a house where authorities thought an armed man was barricaded with hostages.

The siege ended when they stormed the house, but they didn’t find their man. He was never in there, police said.

Arrested was Loriann Hemmings, 21, who they say made up the story about the wanted man.

Hemmings is facing a charge of giving false information to law enforcement during a felony investigation, said Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Alesia Russell. She was given a notice to appear in court.

Hemmings told deputies that her on-again, off-again boyfriend Erik Kelly, 28, barged into her home in the 2700 block of Southwest 54th Avenue on Tuesday, held her captive, then stole her car, Russell said.

Sheriff’s detectives received a tip the next day that Kelly had barricaded himself in a Miramar home on the 7900 block of Biltmore Boulevard, authorities said. They did not say who gave them the tip or when.

About 4 p.m. Wednesday, city police and a SWAT team arrived at the home. Officers circled the place and blocked off surrounding streets, believing Kelly was holding a woman and two minors hostage inside.

“We saw the police through our window, and then they came to our house and told us to leave. They had the entire neighborhood out on the street,” said Wilfred Samuels, 57, who lives across from the targeted house.

Samuels and his wife, Gloria, 62, who uses a walker to move, were told to wait on Utopia Drive, which intersects their street.

“My wife is a sick woman, but they still had us standing outside all those hours,” Wilfred Samuels said. “And then they just left, didn’t even tell us that the whole thing was a sham.”

Police called the surrounded residence about 9 p.m. and told the family inside to come out. They then rushed inside but did not find the suspect.

Authorities said Hemmings called detectives during the standoff and said she had lied, but they wouldn’t say when they received that call.

When detectives reached Kelly on Thursday, he said he had returned Hemmings’ car. He is not facing charges.

“It’s against the law to make a false report of a crime, as it jeopardizes the safety of the public and of law enforcement,” Russell said.

Hemmings could not be reached to comment Thursday.

Florida criminal records show Hemmings was charged with robbery as a juvenile in 2002 and in 2004 with passing a false bill. The dispositions of those cases were not available Thursday.

A woman who answered the door at the wrongly surrounded home declined to comment.

Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Sun-Sentinel