Charlo man lets little lie snowball into jail sentence

CHARLO – Brian Wollman took Lake County emergency responders on a wild ride in January that earned him a date in court Sept. 3 to learn how he would pay for his naughty deeds.

Wollman, 35 of Charlo, didn’t want to live up to his personal promise to fix a female friend’s car last winter, according to Lake County court records. And in an attempt to excavate himself from the commitment, Wollman dug himself a hole with cops so deep that his broken promise appeared minor.

Wollman might have gotten away with the lie if his female friend didn’t insist on calling 911 after he texted her late at night to say he couldn’t fix her car because he had to help another mutual friend who just rolled his Jeep.

Concerned, the woman insisted on calling 911 dispatchers.

When Wollman learned his female friend was going to call 911, he panicked and called 911 himself, records show.

Wollman told emergency dispatchers that his male friend rolled his Jeep on black ice, and that one of the four Jeep occupants was missing.

Minutes later, Wollman’s female friend called 911 as well and reported that Wollman texted her to say that their mutual friend rolled his Jeep; that there was blood all over the car and that the driver was dead.

Emergency personnel were dispatched “all over Lake County” despite the heavy presence of black ice, records show.

But Wollman would not tell them where to go. Instead Wollman, unaware that his female friend already called dispatch, told 911 dispatchers that his Jeep friend was drinking and driving and did not want Wollman to know his location.

When dispatchers asked Wollman to disclose the Jeep driver’s phone number, Wollman declined, saying the Jeep driver feared for his life.

Dispatchers eventually talked Wollman into giving them the Jeep driver’s phone number, but when the dispatchers called it, a third friend picked up.

The third friend told dispatchers he was in Polson, had no idea what Wollman was talking about, and that there was bad blood between he and Wollman.

The third friend then agreed to go straight to the Lake County Sheriff’s office to give an official statement against Wollman.

Meanwhile, in Charlo, a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy happened to spot an erratically driven car and pulled it over.

Lo and behold, Wollman was the driver of that car and his passenger was the man dispatchers believed to have rolled his Jeep, records said.

The accused Jeep driver told cops he knew nothing.

Once standing outside of his car, Wollman told the deputy that he never called 911, but he’d given away his phone to a friend, who must be impersonating him.

Records said that the deputy confronted Wollman with his suspicion that Wollman was lying, then walked toward his own police cruiser to allow Wollman to consider telling the truth when he saw Wollman drop to the ground, “with no attempt to catch himself.”

Once revived, Wollman told cops that he suffered from Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome which causes him to black out when nervous.

The jig was finally up when Wollman admitted that he made the entire story up to avoid fixing his female friend’s car.

Wollman said the story “snowballed” when his female friend insisted on calling emergency personnel and that is why he panicked and called 911 himself, records show.

Wollman said that at one time he was a first-responder and knew that medical personnel got called to fake places regularly.

Once the story got out of control, Wollman said he threw his phone out of the window in a panic.

Wollman was charged with felony criminal endangerment, felony tampering with evidence, misdemeanor calling in a false alarm to a law enforcement agency and misdemeanor filing a false report.

In March Wollman plead guilty to felony criminal endangerment and misdemeanor calling in a false alarm. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the other charges.

Lake County District Court Judge James A. Manley was set to issue Wollman’s sentence Sept. 3, but Wollman’s attorney notified the court that Wollman was in a Missoula jail serving time for another misdemeanor charge.

Wollman’s sentencing was rescheduled for Nov. 5.