LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Police in Kentucky cracked a case investigators around the South have been looking to remedy, involving ladies who mentioned a person had struck up a courting with them on TikTok, taken cash from them, and disappeared.
It started like numerous different fashionable love tales — with a connection on social media.
“She said, ‘I met a gentleman on TikTok. We’ve been talking for a few months and he came out here to visit and we had a great time. Everything was fine,'” mentioned Officer Danielle Strickland of the Somerset Police Department.
But Strickland mentioned the entirety modified on the day the girl was once intended to move on holiday with the person she knew as Jason Mitchell.
“They went to the Lexington airport to go on their vacation and while they were at the airport, she handed him a sum of money to go valet her car and he disappeared. Gone. Nowhere to be found,” Strickland mentioned. “The security was able to locate him on camera getting into a black SUV and leaving Lexington airport.”
Strickland mentioned the person in any case reached out about 3 hours later, announcing he was once within the health facility, however would not inform her the place. Finally, the girl determined to visit police and she or he had one piece of the most important information.
“She came in here and reported it and I said, ‘Ask him who the doctor is who’s treating him? What’s going on?’ She gave me the name. Her and I both kind of googled it together, searched it together, and we came up with that he, the doctor, worked at UK,” Strickland mentioned.
The different piece of the puzzle was once a news tale from NBC 15 News in Mobile, Alabama. They talked to a number of ladies who had the similar tale — they met a person on TikTok and evolved a courting with him, then had given him cash. One lady mentioned he had taken her automobile. An investigator in Alabama used facial popularity era to compare the face the ladies knew with a reputation they might hint.
“It was his vanity that got him. He’s a golfer. His vanity was showing trophies of him winning golf tournaments in Texas that were online, in newspapers, what have you, and that’s how we were able to get the initial hit,” mentioned Chief John Barber of the Spanish Fort Police Department in Alabama.
NBC 15 reported his title was once Brenton Fillers. From there, Officer Strickland saved digging, finding he had warrants out in different states for robbery, credit card fraud, or even sexual attack of a kid. Now, with a complete title and that UK Hospital lead, the entirety got here in combination.
“We contacted UK Police. UK Police got the NCIC photo, got the driver’s license picture of him, went to his room and confirmed it was, indeed, him,” Strickland mentioned.
UK Police arrested Fillers lately. It’s unclear how lengthy he will be within the health facility, however UK Police Chief Joe Monroe mentioned he would in the long run cross to the Fayette County Detention Center ahead of an extradition listening to. It’s a loopy tale — one who Officer Strickland says in reality presentations how cautious other people want to be.
“Don’t trust anyone. Don’t trust anyone when it comes to social media,” Strickland mentioned. “Just follow your intuition. if you think something is wrong, act on it, don’t let it go,”
Strickland and Monroe mentioned collaboration between all the ones companies was once the important thing to piecing the case in combination. Monroe mentioned in all, Fillers had warrants out for motor car robbery in Tennessee, fraudulent use of a credit card in Arkansas, robbery of belongings in Alabama, and annoyed sexual attack of a kid in Texas. He mentioned Fillers would possibly face fees right here in Kentucky as smartly.
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