A man from N.Y. simulated his own kidnapping to avoid paying a $ 50,000 Super Bowl bet

A Buffalo man reportedly pretended to be kidnapped and robbed so as not to pay $ 50,000 in debt to a Super Bowl game, state police said.

Robert A. Brandel, 60, was arrested for attempting first-degree fraud, a crime, and for falsely reporting a third-degree incident, a crime, according to a press release issued by police on Thursday. State of New York.

The soldiers responded Wednesday to a call about a man found tied up in a car in a parking lot. Authorities said they found Brandel with a rope tied around his neck and on the headrest of the car, hands and ankles tied with tape.

Brandel said Monday he took two men involved in the Super Bowl bet, brandishing a pistol and taking $ 16,000 in cash. He claimed that the men had kept him in the vehicle and had accompanied him for two days without wanting it.

He said the $ 16,000 was won through a game of Super Bowl squares, a popular game of chance held every year at workplaces and bars across the country. The winners are determined by the Super Bowl score.

After investigation, the state police came to believe that Brandel had lied about the kidnapping as he could not make payments on his Super Bowl gambling debt.

Brandel would run a $ 50,000 Super Bowl pool in which he would have invented names on some of the places to increase his chances of winning and winning most of the prize money, according to Brandel. the police.

It is unclear how much he owed, but the police said he "was late for most of the $ 50,000".

Brandel is scheduled to appear in court in March in the town of Newfane, Niagara County. It is not clear if he has legal representation at the present time.