Man Fakes Kidnapping To Avoid Paying Super Bowl Debt: Police

An upstate man who was found tied up in his vehicle in a supermarket parking lot was accused of making up a crime. State police from the Lockport barracks said troopers were sent around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday to the Tops supermarket parking lot on Lockport-Olcott Road in Newfane, Niagara County, for a man found tied up in a vehicle.

Police found the blue Ford F-150 parked with a single male occupant in the back seat with a rope tied around his neck attached to the head rest. His hands and ankles were bound with duct tape.

Troopers rescued the man, who was identified as Robert Brandel, 60, of North Tonawanda, Niagara County, and started investigating it as a robbery-abduction.

Brandel's truck was processed for possible evidence while troopers took a deposition from him.

Police said that the man claimed he picked up two men Monday who were involved in his Super Bowl betting pool.

He said that once they got into his truck one of the men brandished a pistol and took $16,000 cash Brandel had from the football pool.

He said the men drove him around western New York for two days against his will.

Then they tied him up in the back seat of the truck and left him in the Tops parking lot Tuesday night.

Police determined through an investigation and interviews that Brandel had made up the elaborate story because he was running a $50,000 payout Super Bowl pool in which he made up names on some of the squares hoping to win and take most of the winnings.

Brandel was unable to make the payouts and was short for most of the $50,000.

He was charged with first-degree scheme to defraud, a felony, and third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor.

Brandel was processed and issued appearance tickets for the Town of Newfane Court sometime in March.

The Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted in the investigation.