GIVING A FALSE NAME TO A DEPUTY LEADS TO AN ARREST

A Yucca Valley man learned that it doesn’t pay to give a false name to deputies. According to a Sheriff’s report, a deputy spotted a pick-up truck without a front license plate being driven southbound on Cahuilla Avenue near Buena Vista in Yucca Valley about 11:30 a.m. The driver turned into a driveway on Cahuilla Avenue, and gave the deputy a name that turned out to be that of his brother. His brother then came out of the house, and identified the driver as Thomas Higgins, 34. A records check determined that Higgins had an active felony, no-bail warrant for being an accessory to robbery. Thomas Higgins was arrested for investigation of false impersonation and on his robbery warrant, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $50,000. The deputy’s report stated that had Higgins correctly identified himself when he was first stopped, the deputy would have had no reason to search criminal records and would have just given him a citation for an expired vehicle registration.