A 29-year-old man who claimed he was attacked and stabbed by three people – skinheads or Hispanic males – confessed Monday night that he stabbed himself because he didn’t want to go to work, Edgewater Police said today.

The man, Aaron Siebers, walked into his employer, the Blockbuster Video store at 1921 Sheridan about 6:30 p.m. Monday, and reported the attack. He said the trio was dressed in black.

Siebers, of Denver, had a deep stab wound to the lower leg plus several superficial knife wounds, according to Steve Davis, spokesman for the Edgewater Police Department.

Five police agencies responded to the scene. In addition to Edgewater police, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Mountain View Police, Lakeside Police and Lakewood Police Department officers set up a large perimeter and began a manhunt for the suspects.

K-9 units were brought into search for the perpetrators.

Siebers was taken to Saint Anthony’s Hospital where he was treated. He received numerous stitches to close the leg wound, said Davis.

Davis said detectives went to the hospital and interviewed Siebers and also reviewed videos from a nearby Target store, which had numerous surveillance cameras. A review of the cameras showed no attack had taken place near the Target store as Siebers claimed, said Davis.

After Siebers was released from the hospital, detectives again questioned him. They confronted him with the evidence from the surveillance cameras and his changing stories about who attacked him, said Davis.

At that point, Siebers confessed and told them he stabbed himself because he didn’t want to go to work, said the police spokesman.

Davis said Siebers had taken a bus from Denver to the Blockbuster store in Edgewater. The surveillance video from the Target store showed him walking from the bus stop to the store without any indication he was suffering from a deep stab wound, said Davis.

Siebers was arrested and charged with false reporting and obstructing a police officer, both misdemeanors. He was taken to the Jefferson County Jail.

“If you are going to concoct a story about being stabbed, don’t do it near a Target store,” said Davis.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com