Kidnapping report from 12-year-old boy found to be a hoax

JAMUL - A 12-year-old East County boy who claimed to have been briefly kidnapped this week admitted today he fabricated the story in an attempt to avoid getting in trouble for being away from home after dark, a sheriff's official said.

On Tuesday night, the youth reported that he had been forced into a small pickup truck on Mark Lee Drive in Jamul a short time earlier by a tall, muscular man with shaggy hair, a long beard and dragon tattoos on both arms, Sgt. Jeff Maxin said.

The child, who had suffered some minor scratches supposedly inflicted by the abductor, told deputies the man drove for...