OCALA, Fla. -- A clerk at a Marion County pizzeria cut himself and falsely reported an armed robbery to cover up his drug habit, sheriff's deputies said.

Garrett Brown, 27, of Ocala, faces charges of filing a false report and petit theft.

According to the Marion County Sheriff's Office, deputies on Tuesday were called to a report of an armed robbery at Pizza Italia, located at 11 Northeast 58th Ave.

Brown, a clerk at the restaurant who is a Department of Corrections inmate on work release, said that he had been robbed at knifepoint and cut by a robber who fled through the back door, according to deputies.

Brown was treated at Munroe Regional Medical Center for his injuries and was required to participate in a drug test, deputies said. The results came back positive for cocaine, and Brown was arrested and taken to the Marion Correctional Institute, deputies said.

The sheriff's office said an investigation revealed that Brown had been stealing money from the restaurant to pay for a drug habit and then falsely reported a robbery to cover up the missing money.

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