False abduction: a man simulates his own kidnapping to avoid paying the Super Bowl bet

The man was found in the back seat of a blue van in the north of the state of New York.

His hands and ankles are tied with tape; a rope was tied around his neck and tied to the headrest. The police rescued the man, Robert Brandel, a 60-year-old man from North Tonawanda, and he told them what had happened.

He said he stayed there, tied up in the car, after two men he played in the Super Bowl – a game of chance – stole him at gunpoint and cost him 16,000 $ in cash. Brandel told the police that he had been driving against his will in western New York State for two days.

But history was a trick, the police said. Brandel was arrested on Wednesday and charged with ploy to defraud and misdemeanor fraud.

Brandel was organizing a Super Bowl game with a $ 50,000 payout, which he rigged up by inventing names in some places in hopes of winning, the police said. But he did not win and ran out of most of the $ 50,000 he owed to the winner, The Post James O'Callaghan, New York State Police Officer, told The Post. York. The plot of kidnapping and alleged theft should be an excuse to give the person to whom he owed money too, O'Callaghan said.

[A Pagan biker gang kidnapped him, a businessman claimed. The FBI didn’t buy it.]

The officers responded to what they thought was a real 911 call from someone who had heard Brandel scream and saw him tap the back of the truck in the parking lot, O said. 'Callaghan. After the soldiers released Brandel, they began interviewing him in a separate vehicle, O'Callaghan said.

"We have an ID team that goes into his truck to take fingerprints and look for hair follicles. We take everything in the vehicle as evidence, "he said. "Meanwhile, other soldiers are going to different shops and places where we think there might be cameras."

But holes seemed to appear in his story, O'Callaghan said. The police noticed that his attitude and physical appearance did not seem to match those of someone who had been kidnapped for a few days.

"He has a goatee but he has just been shaved," O'Callaghan said. "You're not going to look like that if you're sitting in a vehicle for three days. In addition to his behavior: he did not seem to be clueless. He does not want to contact family and friends immediately. "Hey, I have to reach out to tell someone important what's going on."

According to another witness, Brandel allegedly told the officers that he would have been able to lower the glass a little, said the soldier.

"The keys are not in touch. So you start questioning him about it, how did the window open? O'Callaghan said. In the 35 minutes that followed his initial narration, Brandel confessed to the investigators that he had lied about the case, the soldier said.

The case has attracted media attention on Thursday and Friday. Brandel, for whom the Washington Post was not able to respond immediately, is scheduled to appear in court in March to plead his case, O'Callaghan said. Caroline Wojtaszek, a prosecutor with the Niagara County Attorney's Office, did not return several requests for comment.

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