HOBBS, N.M. – A New Mexico man is facing charges after police said he held a group of children against their will when the thought one of them had a .50-caliber round.
Police say the boy actually just had a pen.
The Hobbs News-Sun reports Danny Billington was arrested last week after he waved down a police officer in Hobbs and told the officer a juvenile had a .50-caliber round on him.
According to a criminal complaint, the 41-year-old Billington took the supposed round from the child and laid it on the ground before talking to the officer. The child told police the instrument was a pen for writing.
The complaint says Billington told the officer that he lined up the juvenile with the pen and the children he was playing with to question the group of five.
Billington was charged with robbery, false imprisonment and battery. It was not known if he had an attorney.
