Yeah, maybe the author of that article was having a bit of leeway with the story or the facts being presented to us are questionable. Either way, it doesn't give me a lot of trust or confidence in the truth of that article.
I think it's parallel construction iff they submit a false line of evidence to a judge.
It's not illegal to tell tall tales to the press. Maybe they want to protect an informant. Or, maybe they just want to protect some technical dragnet they've set up, for the time being.