Three people were arrested after a scheme through an escort service website led to a man being tied up in a Port Charlotte home invasion robbery.
According to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, the man made arrangements online with a 27-year-old Lee County woman identified as Amber Nicole Brown.
The two met on August 2. Approximately 15 minutes after Brown arrived, two men knocked on the victim's front door.
The men, later identified as Christopher Clark and Pete Bertolotti, said they lost their dog but then forced their way into the home.
The duo had a hammer and crowbar and pushed the homeowner to the ground.
Clark and Bertolotti then moved the man to the bedroom where they duct-taped his hands and feet, CCSO said.
They commanded the victim to tell them where the money he promised Brown was. According to the report, they also forced him to unlock his phone and transferred the payment to Brown.
After leaving the victim tied up, they shut the door and rummaged through his phone before leaving.
The man was able to chew through the duct tape around his hands and hop to the kitchen. He was able to cut his feet free with scissors but noticed several sets of keys to his vehicles were missing.
A vehicle was also missing from his driveway, along with his cellphone, and he ran to his neighbor's home to call 911.
Not long after, a Lee County K9 deputy noticed a vehicle speeding down McGregor Boulevard. They discovered it was the stolen vehicle that belonged to the victim.
According to the report, the driver ignored the deputy's attempts to stop them and began cutting through parking lots.
The driver then hit a curb, causing a tire to go flat. The suspects then ran away.
The Lee County deputy and his K9 were able to track down Brown, Clark and Bertolotti to an apartment complex where they were arrested.
Clark and Bertolotti are being held in Lee County Jail on unrelated charges. However, CCSO said they will also face charges for this incident in Charlotte County.
Brown is being held in Charlotte County Jail on a $100,000 bond and facing the following charges:
- Home invasion robbery with a weapon
- False imprisonment of a person against their will
- Battery on a person 65 years or older
DOWNLOAD the free
NBC2 News app
for the latest alerts on this story