Robert Brandel, 60, was detained Wednesday for falsely reporting an incident and running a scheme to defraud.
Police in New York arrested a man this week for allegedly faking his own kidnapping because he was unable to pay out money on a Super Bowl betting scheme.
Robert Brandel, 60, of North Tonawanda, was detained and charged on Wednesday with falsely reporting an incident and running a scheme to defraud, state police said. Troopers visited a Tops parking lot shortly after 2:30 p.m. and found the suspect tied up in a vehicle.
The man told investigators that he was targeted in his car by two men involved in a Super Bowl squares pool he was running. The men, he said, had a pistol and stole $16,000 from him.
New York State Police said in a release yesterday Brandel claimed the men made him drive around Western New York for two days against his will. He said they tied him up in the back seat and left him in the Tops parking lot on Tuesday.
