Police: Radio Show Impersonator Lured Males To Home
Man Allegedly Asked People To Disrobe
POSTED: 12:03 pm EST July 29, 2004
UPDATED: 5:00 pm EST July 29, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis man on home detention was arrested Thursday for allegedly pretending to be part of a radio contest to lure people to his home.
Police said Richard Brown, 40, has been calling area restaurants recently asking young male employees if they wanted to win money or a car as part of a Radio Now 93.1 contest.
Brown, who was on home detention for a criminal confinement conviction, allegedly asked the males to come to his home in the 1700 block of Fletcher Avenue to claim their prize, either $50,000 or a 2004 car. Police said that once in the home, the victims were told they had to completely disrobe and put on a T-shirt that was too small to wear RTV6's Julie Pursley reported.
According to police, a male went to Brown's home Thursday morning and realized something was wrong after he was asked to disrobe and noticed Brown's ankle monitor. The male reportedly told police that the doors were locked when he tried to run out, but that he eventually managed to get out of the house and drive away.
"If anyone's going to purport to be a member of a popular morning radio show and entice people to come to home to their house and perform acts that will provide him sexual gratification, and actually have the victims come to his home -- not thinking that those people will call law enforcement -- he's not in the right frame of mind," Indiana State Police Sgt. Dave Bursten said. "If I were going to make a nomination for stupid crook awards, this guy would be it."
The panicked male reportedly called the hosts of the "Billy and Marco Morning Show" on Radio Now 93.1 after he left the house.
"Last night we ran into some people on the streets of Indianapolis that said they were involved in our contest about getting naked and going to a house and winning a car. We're not running a contest like that, so we shrugged it off. This morning, we got a call from a person who said he went to somebody's house, disrobed, and then was locked in the house. Then dozens of calls started to pour in," Marco said.
Radio listeners said they also received similar calls, and that the caller asked them to pick up Nair, razors and a pizza before coming to his home, Pursley reported.
Some corrections officials were also reportedly listening to the radio show, realized Brown was the person they were looking for, and sent his probation officer to pick him up, Pursley reported.
Police believe up to four people -- including two Thursday morning -- may have gone to Brown's home. A neighbor told Pursley he saw something suspicious Wednesday night.
"I just seen a man come out of the house and he got into his car, and he had nothing but a towel wrapped around him, and the back half of his body was showing. He got into his car, jumped off and sped through the light," neighbor Dwayne Miller said.
Police said Brown will spend the rest of his sentence behind bars. He was additionally charged with confinement and identity deception, both of which are class B felonies.
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