Gunpoint fiction

Around 1:40 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, three people were arrested in La Mesa after robbing a man who'd attempted to buy back a camera that had been stolen from him and listed for sale on Craigslist, La Mesa Police are reporting.

According to police, a man called in to the station and reported that he'd located his stolen camera in a Craigslist ad and was en route to meet the suspected thieves in a Grossmont Center parking lot at 2 a.m. Police advised against that course of action, and recommended he wait for an officer to show up to accompany him.

Other calls in the area took priority, however, and police were not immediately dispatched. A short while later, the victim called again, this time reporting that suspects later identified as Jessica Hart, Joseph Kelly, and Dominic Gress had pulled a gun on him and fled the scene when he attempted to purchase the camera.

The unnamed victim followed the trio in their Ford Explorer SUV, maintaining phone contact with police until officers from El Cajon intercepted the vehicle turning onto Interstate 8 from Johnson Avenue.

The victim's camera was recovered but no gun was found. During a follow-up investigation officers determined the victim had fabricated this portion of his story.

All three suspects were booked on charges of possession of stolen property and burglary tools, Hart had an additional two outstanding felony warrants at the time of her arrest.