Opelika man accused of falsely reporting armed robbery

A 33-year-old Opelika man was arrested Wednesday after investigators with the LaFayette Police Department determined he had falsely reported an armed robbery at the Kentucky Fried Chicken in LaFayette earlier this month.

LaFayette police Lt. Jerome Bailey said in a press release that Ernest Eugene Holmes was apprehended at the Rica Motel in Valley and charged with second-degree theft of property, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and falsely reporting an incident.

Holmes, the KFC general manager, had filed a report with the department June 14 alleging that a male customer ordered food from him and then demanded money from the cash registers and safe at gunpoint. Holmes claimed the robber then left the restaurant in a green Pontiac Grand Am.

During the search of Holmes’ motel room, Bailey said investigators found evidence of the theft. Holmes admitted in an interview that there was a customer with a green Pontiac Grand Am, but he didn’t rob the restaurant or have a gun. Holmes admitted he staged the incident to steal the money for himself, Bailey said.

Holmes was held at the Chambers County Detention Facility.