A man faked his own abduction and robbery because he couldn't pay the $50,000 he owed in a Super Bowl pool, New York State Police said. The Associated Press reports 60-year-old of Robert Brandel of North Tonawanda, New York, was found tied up in his pickup truck Monday.
State troopers discovered the truck in a parking lot about 30 miles north of Buffalo. Brandel told them that two men involved in his "Super Bowl squares" pool robbed him of $16,000. He said the men drove him around for two whole days and then left him tied up in his truck.
Investigators later determined Brandel entered some fake names in his $50,000 squares pool for the Super Bowl. His hope was to take home most of the winnings, police said. Instead, Brandel ended up short and owed a huge chunk of money.
It seems Brandel dug himself into an even deeper whole by concocting the scheme to fake his own kidnapping. Not only does he owe $50,000 to his Super Bowl pool, but he is now charged with fraud and falsely reporting an incident. It couldn't be determined if he has a lawyer to comment, the AP reports.
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","published":"2019-03-01T20:39:56.000Z","updated":"2019-03-01T20:53:45.000Z","summary":"A man faked his own abduction and robbery because he couldn't pay the $50,000 he owed in a Super Bowl pool, New York State Police said. The Associated Press reports 60-year-old of Robert Brandel of North Tonawanda, New York, was found tied up in his picku","affiliate":{"_id":"5cc353fe1c9d440000d3b70f","callSign":"kwtv","origin":"https://www.news9.com"},"contentClass":"news","createdAt":"2020-01-31T19:16:19.073Z","updatedAt":"2020-03-31T17:17:59.365Z","__v":1,"show":true,"link":"/story/5e347d03527dcf49dad746a1/man-faked-own-kidnapping-to-avoid-paying-50000-super-bowl-bet-police-say","hasSchedule":false,"id":"5e347d03527dcf49dad746a1"};