Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Chamyra Meosha Houston, 27, was arrested early this morning and charged with making a false police report after allegedly calling 911 to report her car stolen after she loaned her car to a friend who subsequently ran from a traffic stop and let the car roll into a retention pond.

At about 11:56 p.m. on June 22, a Gainesville Police Department officer conducted a traffic stop on Houston’s vehicle; the driver reportedly jumped out of the moving car and fled on foot, leaving the car in drive. The car rolled into a City-owned retention pond and damaged an outlet control structure.

About 10 minutes later, Houston allegedly called 911 to report that her vehicle had been stolen from the parking lot at her job. An officer went to her workplace, where she allegedly filled out a sworn written statement that said she had driven her vehicle to work and someone stole her keys and her vehicle. She allegedly said she had no idea what had happened to the vehicle.

The officer reported that Houston’s statements were “constantly changing” and detained her.

Post Miranda, Houston reportedly said she had left the keys in the car and she knew who had taken it; she said that person possibly took her car to sell drugs from it. Houston reportedly showed the officer text messages from the person she said took her car.

Houston later reportedly changed her story again and said the person who fled the traffic stop had dropped her off at work and that she knew all along that he had her car. She said her friend had called her after he fled from the officer, and that was when she called 911 to report her car stolen to cover for him. She reportedly admitted to deleting her phone call history to hide it from the officer.

When the officer asked why she had tried to implicate someone else for stealing her car, she reportedly said she wanted to protect the person who was driving her car.

Houston also reportedly provided a false address on the sworn statement.

Houston has been charged with making a false police report and making a false official statement. She has no criminal history, and Judge Meshon Rawls ordered her released on her own recognizance.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.