Yesterday morning, a sanitation worker told the police that he was pistol-whipped and robbed while shoveling snow in Queens. By the evening, police had arrested him for filing a false police report after they determined he was beaten up after trying to solicit prostitute. While on-duty.
Michael Morelli, 31, had told cops that two men attacked him and took his cell phone while he was removing snow from a fire hydrant at Liberty Avenue and Guy Brewer Boulevard. The Daily News reports that his story "fell apart when someone found his phone and turned it in." Morelli reportedly admitted to investigators that he was attacked by two men after trying to solicit a prostitute. The assailants' connection to the prostitute is unclear.
NBC New York spoke to Morelli's girlfriend, Jaclyn Francin, and her father Rudy, shortly after the initial report that he was attacked while working. She said, "Anytime you get called in the middle of the night, the first thing you're concerned about is safety—is he OK, is he alive, what actually went down? So of course I was terrified." Her father added, "Comes in, working like 14 hours a day, leaves 7 at night, comes back in the morning."
NBC New York also reported, "When reached on the phone for comment after Morelli's arrest, Rudy Francin was in shock and said he couldn't believe it. He declined further comment."
On Facebook, Jaclyn Francin later wrote, "Apparently responsible journalism isn't a requirement for the media today- as long as those political hire ups are satisfied and wrote the script themselves - obscene isn't even part of it." She also posted this image:
Morelli was charged with filing a false report and received a desk appearance ticket.
