FROM STAFF REPORTS

A 40-year-old man faces prosecution after law enforcement officers concluded that he faked his own kidnapping in an effort to extort money from a relative.

The Mooresville Police Department announced the arrest of Charlotte resident Joseph Dickerson in a news release.

The MPD began investigating on July 29 after responding to a report of a kidnapping, according to the news release.

Dickerson reportedly told a relative that he had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom, police said.

MPD detectives, along with officers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Violent Crime Apprehension Team and Homicide Units, subsequently located Dickerson and determined he had fabricated the kidnapping to extort money from a relative, police said.

Dickerson was arrested and transported to the Iredell County Detention Center, where he was given a $50,000 secured bond.