A Florida couple was arrested Tuesday for faking a home break-in — in which they claimed they were shot at and money taken from them — in a bid to get insurance money, reports said.

On Oct. 26, Lindsey Pelton, 36, and Doug Teixeira, 35, reported to authorities that two men entered their rental home in Deltona, Volusia County, and shot Teixeira in the leg and Pelton in the arm, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. They also claimed that $7,000 was taken from a safe in their home by the intruders.

Both were transported to Central Florida Regional Hospital by ambulance and suffered injuries, which were not considered life-threatening.

“Their story was that two guys entered the house and one shot her in the arm and when he came out he was shot in the leg but we were able to determine no one broke into their home,” Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Chitwood told the News-Journal.

They had deputies searching for suspects they invented, who the couple claimed fled in an unknown vehicle, authorities said.

However, the deputies who were investigating the case suspected something was not right after they smelled bleach and found dried blood in the home and garage.

The Daily Mail reported that police found several other details that led them to believe the crime scene was staged. There was no sign of forced entry and the television which was on the floor appeared as if it had been pushed over and did not appear to be damaged in anyway. No noticeable signs of a vehicle stopping in front of the house were present.

Authorities also thought it was suspicious that the shower and bath mat were dry even though Teixeira was reportedly taking a shower when the robbers broke in.

“If this incident just occurred and they called police right away, why would you have dried blood and why do we have bleach all over the house,” Chitwood said.

According to the New York Daily News, Pelton’s father, Carson Tyler, called investigators to find out more information about the alleged robbery and said at the time that the couple didn’t have any money that could have been taken by any intruders.

“Carson stated neither Lindsey or Doug ‘have two pennies to rub together,’” the investigation report said. “Carson said he knew his daughter and she had probably ‘never seen $7,000 in her life.’”

Investigators then found out that Pelton and Teixeira shot themselves, staged the crime scene and tried to clean things up.

"We found a .22-caliber gun hidden. When they were confronted, they said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, the home invaders didn't bring their own gun. They got hold of our gun.’ I mean, the story just fell apart and it stunk from the very beginning," Chitwood was quoted as saying by AJC.com.

He further said: "They shot themselves for the purpose of committing insurance fraud. They were going to sue the homeowner to collect money.”

Chitwood said the couple even had hired an attorney for the insurance proceedings.

They were booked in Volusia County jail Tuesday on charges of giving false information to law enforcement officers investigating a felony. Treixeira faced an addition charge of tampering with physical evidence.

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