A Schuylkill County man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly told police he thought they’d let him go if he told them he was a woman. Police, however, say they initially spotted him lying in the back of a van with his testicles showing through a hole in his pants.
According to police in Pottsville, they responded to a suspicious looking vehicle in the JFK swimming pool parking lot at a little after 11:30 p.m. on June 23. Ofc. Brandon Costenbader says he looked inside the van – a 1983 Plymouth Voyager – and saw that the front and passenger seats were empty.
Costenbader then shined his flashlight to the rear of the van’s interior and says he saw a leg and thigh sticking out from behind the second-row seat. It was clear to him that it was a man lying in the back of the van, noting that the pants on the person were very tight against the thigh, they were ripped in the crotch, and the person’s testicles were protruding through them.
After banging on the window of the van, the officer says the person in the back sat up. In addition to the skin-tight pants, they were wearing a black tube top and a blonde, shoulder-length wig.
Costenbader says he instructed the occupant to roll down the window, to which they replied, “I can’t” and instructed the officer to meet at the passenger rear door, where they stepped outside.
When asked what they were doing at JFK at that time of night and who they were, the individual said he was out for a walk in the woods when he saw a dog that scared him to the point where he retreated to the van in the lot. He also said his name was Taylor Garcia.
When Costenbader ran that name through JNET, the search came up empty. After another attempt at that name following a confirmation of information, it became clear that the person was not giving their correct name, the officer says.
The mystery person was then asked what the name on their birth certificate was and he responded, Taylor Kristin Garcia. Costenbader says he warned the person identifying themself as Taylor Garcia that giving a false ID to police during an official investigation is a crime, he allegedly fessed up and said his name was actually Christopher Paul Garcia. That wasn’t it either but it was later learned that his last name is actually Garcia.
Backup arrived on the scene and while Costenbader ran Garcia’s name through JNET, he says the suspect was nervous and frantically looking around. When police told Garcia to take it easy and have a seat against a rear tire of the van, they say he took off on foot.
Garcia ran between the basketball courts at the pool complex and made it about 100 yards down the walking trail before a 3-inch heel on his leather boot broke, causing him to fall to the ground. He was taken into custody and while that was happening, Garcia then admitted that his real first name is Jonathan, not Christopher (or Taylor).
Garcia allegedly told police he thought they’d let him go if they believed he was a woman. A search incident to arrest also allegedly revealed a 3.25-gram bag of meth in one pants pocket and a glass smoking device in the other.
Police say they called Garcia’s mother to come to JFK to collect the Voyager, which is registered in her name.
Garcia is facing charges of providing false ID to law enforcement, fleeing police on foot, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released to the custody of his mother at the scene.
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