They said they had explosives, but their hoax held up traffic near Lake Tahoe for hours

A man and woman were arrested in Lake Tahoe on Friday after lying about having explosives and holding up traffic near Emerald Bay for nearly five hours, police said.

Alana Jewel Lee Blakemore of Gardnerville, Nevada, was arrested near the Vikingsholm mansion parking lot after stopping the vehicle for police, according to a news release from the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. Hobie Gregory fled the scene and was later taken into custody at a Raley’s store on Emerald Bay Road.

The situation began when the Federal Bureau of Investigation Las Vegas Field Office received a report of a woman who might hurt herself and others, according to a news release from the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. The FBI asked the Reno Police Department to help locate the woman.

Law enforcement officers found the vehicle with the woman inside and tried to stop it, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office release said. But she sped away toward California — ultimately crossing the state border.

At that point, the South Lake Tahoe police were alerted to a possible fugitive in its city Friday afternoon, according to a news release from the department.

One of the suspects allegedly told police that they had explosives and would set them off if stopped, the release said.

California State Parks officers and El Dorado County Sheriff’s deputies found the suspects’ vehicle along Highway 89 near Emerald Bay, according to the release. The vehicle stopped north of the Vikingsholm mansion parking lot.

Blakemore exited the vehicle with an unknown device around her neck, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. She was uncooperative and threatened law enforcement with explosives, but was eventually arrested.

As she was being arrested, Blakemore dropped a large backpack into the middle of the road, which prompted authorities to close the highway just after 3 p.m., the South Lake Tahoe police said.

Ordinance disposal teams from El Dorado County and the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District were called to the site, according to officials. The South Lake Tahoe police’s SWAT unit also responded.

After Blakemore was arrested, she was transported to a hospital due to drug ingestion and a possible overdose, police said.

When the vehicle stopped, Gregory ran away from the police and toward the lake, according to South Lake Tahoe police. A driver in the area later spotted a suspicious-looking Gregory hitchhiking near Camp Richardson.

Gregory, 24, was seen being picked up and was followed to Raley’s, police said. Store staff helped police find Gregory, who surrendered without incident, officials said.

It was later determined that the two did not have any explosives.

Blakemore, 21, was booked into the El Dorado County Jail on Friday night on suspicion of felony resisting arrest and obstruction charges, according to jail logs, with bail set at $128,000.

Blakemore was previously arrested for allegedly possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia in Carson City, according to Carson Now, a local news website.

Gregory was also booked into the El Dorado County Jail on Friday on charges of resisting arrest, the news release said. But he’s since been released, jail logs say.

This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 9:21 PM with the headline "They said they had explosives, but their hoax held up traffic near Lake Tahoe for hours."