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Lola R. Brock, 44, of Hopatcong was charged with theft and filing a false police report following an investigation led by Detective Keith Dimascio. She posted $1,500 bail and was released this afternoon.
Officers reponded at 10:45 a.m. to the report of a robbery on the third floor of the parking garage.
Brock, who had a cut on her head, told them that she was at the mall working for a business known as “Opinions,” which pays consumers to test products and answer poll questions, Ehrenberg said.
On her way to work, Brock said, she withdrew $800 from an “Opinions” account at a PNC Bank branch in Rockaway to pay customers. She was also carrying $900 of her own money that she said she had after cashing a paycheck.
Brock told police the robbers approached as she got out of her 2001 Chevy van, Ehrenberg said.
One grabbed her purse with the $800 while the other took the $900 that she said she was holding, the chief said.
Brock said she was then thrown to the ground and blacked out. The robbers took her keys, she said.
Paramus EMS took her to Hackensack University Medical Center, where officers conducted an initial interview. Meanwhile, detectives collected evidence at the purported crime scene — “including video surveillance footage from the mall’s extensive camera system,” Ehrenberg said tonight.
Discrepanices quickly rose, he said.
After being treated, Brock was taken to Paramus police headquarters, where Dimascio re-interviewed her.
She “eventually admitted that she had made the entire story up and that she was never robbed…in order for her to steal the $800 [that] belonged to ‘Opinions’,” the chief said.
She also said she “caused her own head wound in order to make the crime scene look more realistic,” he said.
Police found the money in the van and the keys nearby, Ehrenberg said.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy PARAMUS PD
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