A Valparaiso resident was arrested Sunday on a charge of false reporting after Valparaiso Police said that he manufactured a story of being robbed at gunpoint.

Charged with false informing, a Class A misdemeanor, was Ted Russell, 33, of 414 Glendale Blvd.

According to police, at 3:30 p.m. Russell called 911 to report that he had just been robbed in the 300 block of West Street, while walking from his residence to a family birthday party at the Burger King on U.S. Highway 30.

Russell advised that two younger white male subjects exited a vehicle on West Street, pointed a handgun at his chest, and demanded money, police said. Officers searched the area but were unable to locate the suspects.

Investigators, however, subsequently “learned of inconsistencies regarding the incident,” police said, and Russell admitted that he was not in fact robbed but had actually made up the story so as to avoid repaying a relative to whom he owed money.

Russell was transported to Porter County Jail.