Police Say Reported Kidnapping Is Fake

Police in Charlotte confirmed a kidnapping reported during a carjacking in east Charlotte was actually a fake police report.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police called in extra detectives to work through the night looking for the 4-year-old girl a man reported kidnapped. He called police from a gas station on Eastway drive around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. He identified himself as a carjacking victim and said there was a child in the back seat.

Overnight, police said the story was not adding up because the car the man said was taken did not have a back seat and he told police she was a friend's daughter but he didn't know her name. All he told them about her was that she was wearing a pink Dora the Explorer shirt.

Around 6:45 a.m. Friday, police charged Jeffrey Gaither Jr, 22, with making a false police report and carrying a concealed weapon. Officers said Gaither admitted the kidnapping was fake, but said he was the victim of a robbery while walking along Eastway Drive. Gaither is in the Mecklenburg County Jail.