BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NORWOOD -- Lawyer B. North Jr. was afraid to go home and face his family after a night of partying and spending a large amount of money. So, police say, he tried to fool them into believing he was robbed.
He didn't.
Mr. North, 58, of Tamarack Avenue, Evanston, told police he was locked in the trunk of his Ford Tempo for nearly two days after being robbed here.
"He was believable. The witness believed him. We had no reason not to believe him," said Police Capt. Tom Williams, a 33-year veteran. "I've never seen anyone go to such trouble as this."
Police became suspicious as they began an extensive examination of the car and the trunk lock Mr. North claimed he was able to jimmy open with a folding knife.
Mr. North was soaked in urine when he was helped from the trunk by a motorist in the parking lot of the Seven Hills School off Red Bank Road in Columbia Township, officials said.
Mr. North told officers he was loading soft drinks into the trunk of his car at the BP Service Station at Madison and Edwards roads about noon Sunday when he was robbed and forced into the trunk. He said he was able to free himself about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.
After questioning, Mr. North admitted he "was somewhere he shouldn't have been . . . partying in Walnut Hills with friends and he lost or spent a lot of money. He didn't know how else to explain it, so he made it all up," Capt. Williams said.
Now, Mr. North will have to explain it all in Hamilton County Municipal Court. He was cited on a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report, punishable by up to six months in jail and - or a $1,000 fine.
