Russellville business owner accused of faking robbery

A Russellville business owner was arrested Tuesday and charged with faking a robbery at his computer store a day earlier.

Trevor Hugh Hardy, 23, of 908 Villagewood Dr., Russellville, was charged with first-degree perjury, one count of false reporting an incident and one count of rendering a false alarm.

According to Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett, Hardy called police Monday about 2 p.m. reporting that someone had robbed his store, H&H Computers, which is located on U.S. 43 in Russellville across the highway from O’Reilly Auto Parts.

Hardy reportedly told police that he came out of the store’s bathroom and saw a man taking money from the cash register. Hardy said he followed the man out of the store into some nearby woods. At that point, Hardy said, the man fired a gun at him and he returned fire.

“We searched and searched and never found any validity to any of it,” Hargett said.

“We later found out that he had been previously charged with making a false report that was very similar.”

Hargett said Hardy admitted making the story up during questioning by investigators Tuesday.