When a night shift nursing assistant didn’t return from a break, it raised suspicions. A concerned co-worker called the nurse assistant to check-in on her and she told the co-worker her boyfriend was holding her against her will. Obviously worried that the nurse may have been Kidnapped or the victim of False Imprisonment, the co-worker called the police to report that her friend needed help. However, when police arrived and the nurse was located, she admitted it was a hoax. The nurse apparently did not want to go back to work, so she lied about why she would not be returning. The nurse was arrested for False Reporting. While we don’t condone the nurse assistant’s conduct, did she really make a false report under Colorado law?
What is False Reporting in Larimer County?
Colorado law defines False Reporting to Authorities – C.R.S. 18-8-111 – as:
(a) He or she knowingly:
(I) Causes by any means, including but not limited to activation, a false alarm of fire or other emergency or a false emergency exit alarm to sound or to be transmitted to or within an official or volunteer fire department, ambulance service, law enforcement agency, or any other government agency which deals with emergencies involving danger to life or property; or
(II) Prevents by any means, including but not limited to deactivation, a legitimate fire alarm, emergency exit alarm, or other emergency alarm from sounding or from being transmitted to or
within an official or volunteer fire department, ambulance service, law enforcement agency, or any other government agency that deals with emergencies involving danger to life or property; or
(b) He makes a report or knowingly causes the transmission of a report to law enforcement authorities of a crime or other incident within their official concern when he knows that it did not occur; or
(c) He or she makes a report or knowingly causes the transmission of a report to law enforcement authorities pretending to furnish information relating to an offense or other incident within their official concern when he or she knows that he or she has no such information or knows that the information is false; or
(d) He or she knowingly provides false identifying information to law enforcement authorities.
This definition would include a report to police that you had been a victim of a Kidnapping or False Imprisonment.
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What’s interesting about the case above is that the nurse never actually made the report. She simply lied to her co-worker. But the chain of events that followed caused a false report to be made. Now, I believe the district attorney would have a hard time proving this case in Larimer, Boulder, or Grand County because of the very important term ‘knowingly.’ Common sense would tell you that if you told a friend a crime was being committed against you, the friend would report it to get you help. But, did the nurse ‘knowingly’ cause a false report to be made? A solid criminal defense lawyer would be able to argue that the nurse’s actions do not meet all the requirements of the statute defining this offense.