No charges filed in August robbery, fake kidnapping

LYNN-On the night of Aug. 1, Lynn police were sent into a frantic search after three people reported being robbed of $20,000 cash at gunpoint while a fourth man, claiming to be a car dealer, was kidnapped outside the Lynnway Auto Auction.Police departments in several surrounding communities were alerted to what took place shortly after 9 p.m.About an hour later, a man claiming he was the father of the kidnapping victim called police saying his son was fine after he was thrown from a moving car and was being treated at a local hospital.The next day, police said they believed the entire kidnapping incident was a hoax which left the victims $20,000 poorer.Police “learned the identity of the person who was allegedly kidnapped and established that was not the case,” said Lynn police spokesperson Lt. David Brown this week. “It was suspected that the victims were set up.”Now, over two months later, police say no charges were filed against the fake kidnap victim and two other suspects after the robbery victims became uncooperative and decided not to pursue the incident further.Also, “One of the victims claimed that their money was returned,” Brown said.Immediately after the robbery, police reported the three victims, two men and a woman, ages 18, 20 and 29, drove to the auto dealership from New Haven, Conn. to meet a man named “David Rustan,” who claimed to be a car dealer.The three met with the man outside the dealership on Harding Street around 8:30 p.m. and he walked them through the auto lot looking at cars the trio might purchase, police said.As the group walked back out onto Harding Street, they were approached by two white men holding a gun and a knife, police said. One of the men stole the $20,000 cash from a victim, while the other man forced “Rustan” into an early 90s Ford Crown Victoria and drove away.Police in Lynn and surrounding communities conducted a frantic search looking for someone they though might have been kidnapped, until Rustan’s “father” called police saying he was okay.Brown said a “diligent” investigation was conducted, led by Det. Timothy Ferrari of the Criminal Investigation Division before police decided against pressing charges.