By Kate Feldman
New York Daily News
WARRENTON, Va. — A Virginia sheriff’s deputy who claimed he had been attacked Friday night when he was found lying facedown in the middle of the road made up the whole thing, officials said Saturday.
Jake Preston Dooley, 22, has been charged with falsely summonsing law enforcement and obstruction of justice after the Fauquier Sheriff’s Department “thoroughly and vigorously investigated” his claims and found them false.
Dooley, a sheriff’s deputy with the Fauquier Sheriff’s Department, was found at the intersection of Old Waterloo Road and Wilson Road around 7:15 p.m. Friday and claimed he had been the victim of a roadside attack.
“As the deputy was walking back to his marked sheriff’s office vehicle he heard an approaching vehicle and heard someone yell,” police initially said. “The deputy observed a black SUV and was then struck in the head by an object.”
Dooley was hospitalized and released that night, but his alleged attackers were never found.
By Saturday, officials had decided Dooley made it all up.
“Sometimes bad things happen to good organizations,” Sheriff Bob Mosier said in a statement. “We truly regret that this happened but find a tremendous amount of comfort in the knowledge that our community understands and supports law enforcement in Fauquier County.”
Dooley was released Saturday on a $10,000 bond but “will be transported to a regional facility for a mental health evaluation,” police said.
He has also been fired.