False Report of Boy Trapped in Trash Bin Leads to Massive Search

A massive search, triggered by reports that a boy fell into a trash bin that was then emptied into a garbage truck, was called off Thursday after five Pasadena students who reported the incident admitted they made it up, authorities said.

Thirty-five police officers and rescue workers, aided by helicopters and canine units, spent more than six hours sifting through mountains of trash at Glendale’s Scholl Canyon landfill before they learned that the report was false.

“This was very, very costly,” said Pasadena city spokeswoman Ann Erdman. “It’s a lot of money when you consider staff time, search-and-rescue personnel and having to reroute trash trucks, and then the clean-up.”

The hunt began about 12:30 p.m. after five students told officials at Washington Middle School in northwest Pasadena that they watched a boy climb into a 60-gallon household trash bin to retrieve a ball, police said. The children said they saw the plastic bin emptied into a garbage truck.

“We asked school officials about the reliability of the students, to see if they were pulling our legs,” said Lt. Chris Vicino. “But the teachers said they were good kids. So that seemed credible to us.”

Pasadena police officers, in addition to members of the Sierra Madre search-and-rescue team, combed the Glendale landfill, which is used by Pasadena. Authorities also searched a four-block area surrounding the 1400 block of Iowa Avenue, where the students said the incident occurred.

In the early evening the students were interviewed again--separately--and they eventually admitted to the hoax.

Vicino said when the report came in about a missing child, it was imperative to move quickly.

“If my kid was missing, I would want the police department to move on it immediately, like we did,” he said.

Vicino said it was unknown why the children made up the story. Detectives will conduct a follow-up investigation and possibly discuss the matter with the city attorney’s office.

Times correspondent Greg Rippee contributed to this story.