San Diego

San Diego police investigators Saturday were considering whether to cite a San Diego woman who falsely reported that she had a 15-day-old son who had been kidnaped.

Police were called to the Food Basket on El Cajon Boulevard in North Park shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, after Linda Wyvenga told store employees that her infant son, Jerry, had been abducted from her shopping cart when she wasn’t looking, a police spokeswoman said. Police began an extensive search and issued an alert for all units to be on the lookout for the missing child, who was described in detail by Wyvenga.

Police, however, became suspicious when none of the other shoppers in the store at the time of the reported kidnaping could recall seeing Wyvenga with a child, police Sgt. Micki Farrell said. A subsequent check revealed that Wyvenga has no children.

Under further questioning, Wyvenga admitted to police that the kidnaping had been a hoax, Farrell said, adding that at least three police units were involved in the search, which ended around 8 p.m.