Valentine's Day role-playing lands couple in jail
PORTLAND, Ore. -- A young Portland couple called it Valentine's Day role playing. Police called it disorderly conduct, saying it created public alarm as well as taking up the time of at least nine patrol cars for 20 minutes Tuesday.
That's how long police spent checking out an alarmed 911 caller's report of a possible kidnapping. The caller reported seeing a car leaving a grocery parking lot with a naked woman tied up in the back with duct tape over her mouth.
Sgt. Pete Simpson says officers flooded the area and alerted Washington state law enforcement in case the car headed north on Interstate 5.
When police located the car shortly before 1 p.m., Simpson says 31-year-old Nikolas Alexander Harbar gave officers the role-playing explanation. Police confirmed that account with the man's 26-year-old girlfriend, Stephanie Morgan Pelzner.
Simpson says both were arrested for second-degree disorderly conduct and booked into jail.
"You can't do things that are going to create a public alarm," Simpson said. "When it starts to affect other people and the public, something like this is not okay."
Typically, Simpson says the district attorney's office might drop such a case from a misdemeanor to a violation, like a traffic ticket.
That's how long police spent checking out an alarmed 911 caller's report of a possible kidnapping. The caller reported seeing a car leaving a grocery parking lot with a naked woman tied up in the back with duct tape over her mouth.
Sgt. Pete Simpson says officers flooded the area and alerted Washington state law enforcement in case the car headed north on Interstate 5.
When police located the car shortly before 1 p.m., Simpson says 31-year-old Nikolas Alexander Harbar gave officers the role-playing explanation. Police confirmed that account with the man's 26-year-old girlfriend, Stephanie Morgan Pelzner.
Simpson says both were arrested for second-degree disorderly conduct and booked into jail.
"You can't do things that are going to create a public alarm," Simpson said. "When it starts to affect other people and the public, something like this is not okay."
Typically, Simpson says the district attorney's office might drop such a case from a misdemeanor to a violation, like a traffic ticket.
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