A Camas man who fell out of a car on Interstate 205 and said he was a kidnapping victim was arrested after investigators learned the ordeal was a botched attempt to scam his mother, according to police.
Oregon State Police responded to I-205 near Johnson Creek Boulevard in Clackamas County about 10 a.m. Sunday after multiple reports that a man had fallen out of a silver Dodge Neon, police said. The 911 callers reported that the man had his hands bound behind his back and a bag over his head, Oregon police said.
The preliminary investigation showed that John McPhail, 57, of Camas, fell out of the car, then the car stopped and two men got out, and they approached McPhail. Investigators said they didn’t know how fast the vehicle was traveling when McPhail exited.
When other motorists stopped to help, the two men got back into their car, police said. One witness attempted to flatten one of the Neon’s tires, but the car fled the scene, police said.
McPhail suffered minor injuries and was taken to OHSU Hospital, where he was treated and released.
He told investigators that he had been kidnapped in Camas, which prompted multiple police agencies to investigate as police feared there were more victims, the Oregon State Police said.
After further conversation, however, investigators said they became suspicious of inconsistencies in McPhail’s story. He eventually confessed that the kidnapping was staged in an attempt to get money from his mother, police said. The plan, however, had failed and his mother never lost any money.
McPhail was arrested on suspicion of initiating a false police report and conspiracy to commit first-degree theft and was booked into the Clackamas County Jail, police said.
“It appeared that the condition he was in was consensual,” Oregon State Police Capt. Bill Fugate said.
Police detectives want to speak with two Camas residents who investigators say were in the car: Justin Gibson, 36, and Joseph Gibson, 33. The two men were last seen driving a 2000 silver Dodge Neon with Washington license plate AYW4837. Anyone with information about the two men or the incident is asked to call
503-375-3555.
“We don’t know if they were involved, we just want to talk to them,” Fugate said.
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