Staff Reports
A 30-year-old Lancaster man laid out a story of love and betrayal to Falls police on Thursday.
The man said he joined the phone chat line “Quest” and began talking with a woman who said she was a 24-year-old Falls resident. On Oct. 15, the two met up at an apartment on Niagara Street where they had sex.
On Oct. 20, the man said he received a text from someone claiming to be the woman’s mother, who typed that the man had slept with her 17-year-old daughter and he needed to call her right away or she was going to the police. The man called and the mother told him she wanted to keep the incident between them and asked for “restitution” of $300. The man agreed to it and said he was instructed to wire the money to a person who was described to him as a police dispatcher with the Niagara Falls Police Department.
A day or so later, the man said he received another text from the mother. She told him he now needed to pay $1,500 in “court-ordered restitution.” The man sent $150 on Oct. 23 and 24, $100 on Oct. 26 and $475 on Oct. 27. Police said the money was always wired to a store on Niagara Street in the city.
The man said the caller told him they were from a family of police officers. The man said they had also called him at his job and threatened to have him arrested there.
A few days after his last payment, the man said he received a text from the girl’s father who said paperwork was being filed to have him arrested because he hadn’t paid the full amount. The father called the man on Saturday and told him he was going to court on Monday and needed to bring some money with him to prove to the judge that the man was paying his restitution. The man was instructed to drop off $1,200 in a mailbox on Niagara Street. The man did and picked up his “receipt” — a torn up piece of paper.
On Wednesday, the man said he received a voicemail from a woman who said she was a detective with the Niagara Falls Police Department and she wanted to talk about the case.
At this point the man became suspicious and talked over the situation with a friend who urged him to contact the real police.
While officers were interviewing the man, the mother called and was put on speaker. Police said she called the man rude and said she was only trying to help him so he wouldn’t go to jail.
When asked why he’d paid any money to these people in the first place the man responded that he didn’t know it wasn’t a crime to sleep with a 17-year-old. The matter is being investigated by detectives.
