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Michael Cohen, 65, of Bass River.

(NJSP)

TRENTON -- State Police said the robbery victim had a "remarkable ability to recall minor details."

Michael Cohen, 65, described his assailants so vividly that authorities crafted a sketch of one of the suspects on Tuesday: a black man in his mid- to late 30's with a nose ring and a beard who spoke with a British accent.

The man stole $150 cash from Cohen at gunpoint near a Bass River bus stop and drove off with a second assailant, Cohen claimed.

But police say they had a hard time catching the suspects, because they didn't exist.

"Detectives found discrepancies (in Cohen's account), and he later admitted he made up the entire story," Trooper Lawrence Peele, a State Police spokesman, told NJ Advance Media Wednesday.

A work of fiction? State Police created this composite sketch based on a robbery victim's vivid account, but claim the man later admitted he made the whole thing up.

Cohen was charged with filing a false police report at the State Police Tuckerton Station, authorities said. He was released pending a court date. It was not immediately clear if he had retained an attorney.

The State Police poked fun at the case in a post on their Facebook page announcing Cohen's arrest, claiming the accused had a "vivid imagination."

"Mr. Cohen described the suspect vehicle as possibly a Hyundai Santa Fe with tinted windows, damage to the driver's side rear bumper, and a light-colored license plate," a spokesman wrote on the page. "Nice touch. But alas, Mr. Cohen ran out of steam when it came to the description of the driver of said suspect vehicle. It was as follows: white guy. Remember, character development, sir, character development."

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S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.