BLANCHESTER — A Blanchester man was charged after police say he falsely reported that a robbery had taken place.

On the morning of Thursday, March 15, Tyler Gustin, 29, of 815 E. Cherry St. reported that he had been robbed by a man and woman known to him, according to Blanchester Police Chief Scott Reinbolt.

“Gustin stated the woman is an ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, and that she left a small amount of narcotics outside his back door, then she and the man entered his apartment without his consent, wrestled with him, and stole a bottle of prescription drugs from his pants pocket,” said Reinbolt.

He said that Gustin is currently on parole after a 2016 conviction for robbery in Clermont County.

Reinbolt added that on March 15 Gustin was arrested by his parole officer, who asked that the police department transport Gustin to the jail. As Blanchester police were taking Gustin to the jail, he suffered an apparent drug overdose in the back seat of the police cruiser and was taken to Clinton Memorial Hospital via ambulance, Reinbolt said.

An investigation into the reported robbery was opened and assigned to Cpl. James Beckelhymer.

He “spoke to several witnesses, as well as one of the named suspects, and discovered evidence that the offense of robbery did not occur and that the suspects were not even at Gustin’s residence on the day of the reported crime,” said Reinbolt.

Gustin was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with making false alarms — a misdemeanor offense that prohibits making knowingly false reports of crime to the police — and he was taken to the Clinton County Jail.

Gustin, who has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2005 which includes convictions for trafficking in drugs, theft and forgery, will answer the charge in Clinton County Municipal Court, Reinbolt said.

“The police department stands ready to assist victims of crime by investing the time and taking the steps necessary to attempt to bring criminals to justice,” said Reinbolt. “It is our job to gather evidence in order to establish the facts of what occurred. In this case, those facts indicate that no robbery occurred.”