The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/060809_Police_Kidnapping_Faked_To_Buy_Drugs
Police: Kidnapping Faked To Buy Drugs
Ransom Used To Purchase Crack Cocaine, Police Say
NEW CASTLE COUNTY, Del. - Police in Delaware said two men are accused of faking a kidnapping and extorting cash from a family member, later using the ransom to purchase crack cocaine.
New Castle County police said they received a call Saturday about a man who was missing under suspicious circumstances. Officers were told William David Holland, 45, was missing from his home in the community of St. Andrews.
The victim's sister told investigators she began receiving text messages from her brother Wednesday saying he had been kidnapped by drug
dealers.
According to police, Holland wrote in the messages he was being held against his will and needed his sister to pay a cash ransom to secure his safe release.
The sister agreed to meet the alleged drug dealer Friday at the Wilmington train station and pay $200 for her brother's safe return. State police said she paid an unknown man the money as agreed upon, but Holland was not released.
The next day, she received an additional text message indicating that if she wanted to see her brother alive again she need to bring another $200 to the BP Gas Station on Martin Luther King Blvd.
This time, the sister called police, telling them she feared her brother would be killed by the alleged kidnapper.
Detectives said they were able to track the cell phone to John Reynolds, 42, of Wilmington, at the same time Holland's sister (with police assistance) negotiated a settlement with the kidnapper.
She delivered an additional $50 to the same man as before at the gas
station and, based on previous photographs, the alleged kidnapper was identified by undercover officers as the cell phone's owner.
Police: Kidnapping Faked To Buy Drugs
Ransom Used To Purchase Crack Cocaine, Police Say
NEW CASTLE COUNTY, Del. - Police in Delaware said two men are accused of faking a kidnapping and extorting cash from a family member, later using the ransom to purchase crack cocaine.
New Castle County police said they received a call Saturday about a man who was missing under suspicious circumstances. Officers were told William David Holland, 45, was missing from his home in the community of St. Andrews.
The victim's sister told investigators she began receiving text messages from her brother Wednesday saying he had been kidnapped by drug
dealers.
According to police, Holland wrote in the messages he was being held against his will and needed his sister to pay a cash ransom to secure his safe release.
The sister agreed to meet the alleged drug dealer Friday at the Wilmington train station and pay $200 for her brother's safe return. State police said she paid an unknown man the money as agreed upon, but Holland was not released.
The next day, she received an additional text message indicating that if she wanted to see her brother alive again she need to bring another $200 to the BP Gas Station on Martin Luther King Blvd.
This time, the sister called police, telling them she feared her brother would be killed by the alleged kidnapper.
Detectives said they were able to track the cell phone to John Reynolds, 42, of Wilmington, at the same time Holland's sister (with police assistance) negotiated a settlement with the kidnapper.
She delivered an additional $50 to the same man as before at the gas
station and, based on previous photographs, the alleged kidnapper was identified by undercover officers as the cell phone's owner.