A New Jersey pastor told police on Friday that three people attacked him at the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in Somerville, CBS New York reports. But after finding inconsistencies in his story, investigators found that he had faked his own assault.

Police found Jairon Pena on Friday with his legs tied, his hands tied loosely behind his back, and a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth. Also, authorities said, he had a plastic bag over his head and a piece of paper taped to his torso with a misspelled Islamic phrase.

According to CBS, Pena told them that two men and a woman removed bibles from the church pews, scattering them around and making offensive remarks about his religion.

However, investigators noticed differences between what he told them and what he told police when they first arrived at the church. From NJ.com:

Upon transporting Pena to an area hospital for treatment, investigators and medical personnel observed that he didn’t have any of the visible injuries that would normally be present as a result of being assaulted and bound, authorities said.

An investigation revealed that Pena had lied to the police and that he had fabricated the entire event by staging a crime scene due to some personal events in his life, authorities said.

He was arrested and charged with third-degree false public alarm, fourth-degree false swearing, and fictitious report to law enforcement.

Photo via NJ.com/Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.