Three Des Moines area teenagers who reported being kidnapped and robbed earlier this month have been cited for lying to investigators. Police Sergeant Jeff Edwards says Blake O’Connor and Nicholas Broderick, both 19, and 15-year-old Dillon Bonanno had said they were kidnapped by two men from a convenience store on November 8.

“In interviewing the victims, they eventually admitted the kidnapping part of that did not occur,” Edwards said. The victims had said the men forced them to drive to an apartment building on the southwest side of the capital city where they picked up a third individual. The teens said they were then forced out of the car and into a laundry room where they were robbed at gun point.

“The robbery aspect of this case is still being investigated as a legitimate robbery,” Edwards said. The teens were given citations for making a false police report. Edwards says it appears the teens voluntarily followed the two men to the apartment.