Man faked his own kidnapping to avoid paying $50,000 Super Bowl bet
NEWFANE, N.Y. (AP) — State police say a western New York man faked his own abduction and robbery because he was short of cash owed in a Super Bowl pool.
Troopers found 60-year-old Robert Brandel of North Tonawanda tied up in his pickup truck Monday in a parking lot in Newfane, 30 miles north of Buffalo.
Brandel told troopers two men involved in his Super Bowl squares robbed him of $16,000, drove him around for two days and left him tied up in his pickup.
Investigators determined Brandel had entered some fake names in his $50,000 squares pool hoping to take most of the winnings, but instead ended up short for the payouts.
“This guy ran a football pool, a $50,000 payout football pool. He came up with a couple different ways where he could make money off of it and eventually fell flat,” Trooper James O’Callaghan told WKBW. “And now he can’t make the money up to the people who obviously or eventually won this football pool.”
Brandel was charged with fraud and falsely reporting an incident.
It couldn’t be determined if he has a lawyer to comment.