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Grandma, What a Big Brain You Have!

Preston Kelley sent his grandmother a picture that appeared to show him being held captive in the woods in Tennessee. The message said that if she didn’t send him $1,000 through a money gram, he’d be killed. “He never got any money,” said Lauderdale County (Ala.) sheriff’s investigator Lt. Brad Potts. “The grandmother came straight to us.” Investigators began probing the apparent crime, then arrested Kelley, 23, on a first-degree extortion charge. “We take all instances like that serious,” Potts said. “But, eventually we determined it was all a hoax and he was trying to extort her for money.” Kelley was held on $1,000 bail and faces up to 20 years in prison. “Family is the ones people tend to prey on,” Potts said. “Particularly elderly relatives.” (MS/Birmingham News) ...There may be a sucker born every minute, but some improve with age.
Original Publication Date: 19 February 2017
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 23.

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