SANTA ANA, CA — A Santa Ana man who triggered a three-day scare by warning neighbors about a venomous snake in his backyard could be arrested and cited after police say he later admitted the story was fabricated.
Authorities say Joel Ciprian first reported seeing a Gaboon viper in the 1400 block of Cypress Avenue on Monday and shared a photo he claimed he had taken of the reptile. That prompted police and reptile experts to respond, along with a community alert warning residents about the possible danger.
Police now say Ciprian told them the snake story was made up and that the image was generated by artificial intelligence.
How the Gaboon viper warning spread through the neighborhood
The concern began after Ciprian alerted neighbors to what he described as a venomous viper in a backyard near Cypress Avenue. He also sent the same image to the Santa Ana Police Department, which widened the response beyond the immediate neighborhood.
According to police, the report led officers and reptile specialists to the area to check on the potential threat. Residents were left unsettled as the warning circulated and the possibility of a dangerous snake presence hung over the block.
Officials said the neighborhood dealt with unnecessary fear while police resources were tied up responding to the claim. The warning remained active while authorities tried to determine whether the snake sighting was real.
Police say the photo was AI-generated and the story was admitted false
Days after the initial report, Ciprian told police he had invented the snake sighting, according to Santa Ana police. Officer Natalie Garcia said he admitted falsifying the report and acknowledged, in her words, that he had made it up.
Garcia said officers wrote a report documenting his statement and apology. Police now plan to forward that report to the Orange County district attorney’s office and are hoping charges can be filed.
Garcia also said, “Now that is a crime,” referring to the admission that the account was false. Officers said the photo was run through AI detection tools, but those checks produced conflicting results.
What charges could follow the false report
Police say the case could lead to an arrest and citation, and that a misdemeanor conviction could carry up to a year in jail. The district attorney’s office has not yet received the crime report, officials said.
The allegation centers on the falsified report itself, not on an actual snake incident. Police say the concern was serious enough to justify a response because they had to treat the warning as potentially real until it was resolved.
Authorities have not identified any motive for Ciprian’s actions. For now, the next step depends on review by prosecutors after the police report is submitted.
Neighbors describe the scare as unnecessary but not worth overpunishment
At least one neighbor said a citation would be the right response. The resident described Ciprian as young and said he made a mistake, but should still learn that what he did was a crime.
That neighbor also said the punishment should not be excessive, adding that the goal should be to make him understand the consequences of the hoax rather than cause too much harm over what was described as a dumb mistake.
The reaction in the neighborhood reflects the frustration police say came with the incident: a made-up warning about a venomous animal, repeated concern among residents, and time spent by officers trying to sort out whether the danger was genuine.
Why police still had to treat the snake claim seriously
Even with the conflicting AI-detection results, police said they had to respond as though the threat might be real. A claim involving a Gaboon viper, one of the world’s most venomous snakes, was enough to bring immediate attention to the area.
Authorities said the response was necessary because a false report can still create public safety concerns when neighbors are warned about possible danger. In this case, the claim drew officers, reptile experts and a formal alert, all based on a backyard sighting that police say never happened.
The incident now appears to be moving from a neighborhood safety scare to a criminal case review, with investigators saying the false report may have consequences beyond the Cypress Avenue block.
