Galarza-Quinones

Fernandez

At the Osceola Regional Medical Center early Tuesday morning, Yamilka Galarza-Quiñones, 34, made a sworn statement to Osceola County Sheriff's Office deputies, telling them her husband was driving home from Tampa when he called her to report that he had been attacked.

Quiñones and her brother-in-law, 18-year-old Jorge Fernandez drove to Osceola Polk Line Road, where they found her husband sitting in his vehicle with serious injuries. Quiñones told deputies that her husband had been beaten up and robbed by strangers.

However, when detectives drove Quiñones and Fernandez to the scene of the supposed attack, they found inaccuracies in their stories. Also, the victim told them when he woke up in the hospital that there had been no robbery.

Eventually Quiñones and Fernandez, who both live at 2399 E. Roble Drive, admitted that they had made up the robbery story to protect their cousin who did fight with the victim. They were booked into the Osceola County Jail, charged with one count each of filing a false report, a first-degree misdemeanor.

The Sheriff's Office is calculating the costs of the robbery investigation to submit to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's office with the charges, agency spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said. Residents filing false reports are becoming a problem, she said.

“It's starting to happen more frequently,” she said. “We just want the public to understand that when we have to investigate false allegations, it takes time and resources away from legitimate cases.”

The victim of the attack is not pressing charges, Lizasuain said.