Man lies about armed robbery outside Hooters

SAUGUS – Police began investigating an alleged armed robbery in the parking lot of Hooters restaurant on Route 1 south shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, until the purported victim confessed to fabricating the story.Steven Vaughn of Melrose told police two men, including one brandishing a black handgun, held him up and took his wallet and iPhone. He described one assailant as a dark-skinned man wearing a red-colored Red Sox cap and a Red Sox jacket, the other as a white man with blond hair wearing a black jacket and jeans, according to police reports.The Melrose man waited until he returned home before calling police. He was asked to come to the police station to make a statement. The Police Department broadcast a be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) alert, according to police.At midnight, Melrose police called their colleagues in Saugus to say Vaughn had lied, that the robbery had actually occurred in Melrose. Vaughn lied because he told his parents he was going to Hooters but apparently went elsewhere.A criminal complaint will be issued, charging Vaughan with filing a false police report, according to Melrose police officer John Flannery.