OAKLAND — The father who told police that his 3-year-old daughter had been abducted during a carjacking Saturday night, sparking a statewide Amber Alert, has been arrested for filing a false police report, authorities said.
The father’s name was not released by police, but Alameda County jail records identified him as Edrick L. McCroey, 26, who was able to post an unlisted amount of bail Sunday. No place of residence was given for him.
Oakland Police Officer Johnna Watson said Sunday that the father made the false report because he thought it would help get his car — a 2005 Mercedes Benz — back faster. Watson said the little girl was with her father earlier in the day but at the time the vehicle was taken, the child was with her mother in another city.
It wasn’t long after the carjacking that police started to question the father’s story, and those concerns grew after the car crashed in El Cerrito just before midnight and the suspected carjacker was arrested, authorities said. The child was not in the car, and there was no car seat in the vehicle.
Authorities said the girl’s father initially told police his daughter was buckled into a car seat in the back seat when he was carjacked about 8:10 p.m. Saturday in the 5900 block of International Boulevard in East Oakland. The father reportedly lives in another city and it was not immediately clear why he was in East Oakland. Police sent out bulletins to surrounding law enforcement agencies based on what the father said that included a picture of the girl and also issued an Amber Alert.
Authorities said because of news stories and social media posts, family members and others had gotten hold of the mother to tell her what was being reported, and at least one person called police to say the girl was with the mother. Oakland investigators finally reached the mother just before 2 a.m. Sunday and confirmed the girl was with her and was safe.
Police said they do believe the carjacking was legitimate. Police would not say whether the suspected carjacker, whose name has not been released. made any statements.