BOARDMAN — A local woman is facing misdemeanor charges after police said she lied to them about her car being stolen.

The woman told police a phantom thief was to blame for a street sign that was damaged when her car went off the road.

The Boardman police report states an officer responded to a complaint Sunday afternoon on Riverside Drive. The caller told police the driver was picking up pieces of the damaged car that struck a street sign in front of her house. She told police she had pictures of the car.

The report states that seven minutes after the initial call, the driver of the car — Paris S. Fain, 42, of Youngstown — called to report her car stolen on Arden Boulevard. Fain was driving in the area of the downed speed limit sign and was told to pull over and wait for police to arrive.

When the officer approached her car, which was pulled over on Midlothian near Arden, he saw a black man walking southbound on nearby Dover Road.

Fain told the officer that an unknown black man jumped into her car while she was making a home delivery on Arden, the police report states. She said she chased the car on foot and the slippery road caused the car to hit the sign and the man got out and fled, and Fain got into the car and drove it away while she waited for police to arrive.

A witness said the speed limit sign that was hit is very near their home and they watched as the car hit the sign, and a black man and woman got out of the car, the report states. They said the woman was driving. The witness told police they watched the woman back the car up, then pick up pieces of the car while the man got out and walked away down Arden. The witness said the woman turned the damaged car around and followed the man.

The report states police found the man walking and he told them a similar story.

The man said that while they were on their way to a friend’s house, he received a text message that Fain found upsetting. He told police that she was distracted because of the message when she made the turn onto Riverside and hit the sign. He told police she blamed him for causing her to crash, the report states.

The man showed police the text message in which another man accuses him and Fain of stealing a gun.

After arresting Fain for damage to public property and obstruction, they searched her purse and found a gun that was reported stolen through Youngstown police.

Court records show Fain is charged with obstruction, making a false alarm, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to control. There is no charge yet related to the stolen gun. She is due in Mahoning County Boardman Court on Thursday.