Bizarre details continue to emerge following the escape of a kidnapped woman who was allegedly held as a sex slave by a New York teenager. According to new reports, the woman’s captor made almost daily phone calls to the FBI.
Brandon Todd, 19, was arrested on July 10 and charged with the kidnapping of an unidentified woman. Todd reportedly met the woman on a cross-country bus, as the two traveled from Florida to San Diego.
Once they arrived at their destination, Todd suggested they stay in a hotel together.
Todd made clear his intentions to kidnap the woman, telling her that he was affiliated with a gang and would have her tracked down if she attempted to escape. After several days, Todd forced the woman to travel with him on another bus to Rochester, New York, threatening to kill the victim’s parents if she resisted.
When the pair arrived in Rochester, Todd’s grandfather picked them up and drove them to his home, where the 19-year-old lived.
According to an affidavit, the grandfather "would not talk to [the victim], would not look her in the eye, and did not seem to care that she was there.”
But then, the story takes an even stranger turn – during the woman’s two-week stay in the home, Todd made almost daily calls to federal agents.
Court documents say the teenager began making phone calls to the FBI – the majority of which were received by Agent Barry Crouch. Todd informed the agency that “he was involved in human sex trafficking” and had recently “recruited” a victim.
"Todd stated that the reason he was calling the FBI was that he had recruited a certain woman, started to have personal feelings for her, and decided he did not want her involved with the trafficking," Crouch wrote.
Disturbing details of the woman’s captivity, as explained in the affidavit, include physical abuse and sleep deprivation. Todd allegedly forced his victim into sex several times per day and injured her using a belt and heavy boots.
In the move that eventually saved her, the woman faked an asthma attack so she could be admitted into the hospital. She took that opportunity to call her boyfriend, and the two then escaped to Florida together.
After her escape, Todd contacted federal agents “hoping the FBI would assist him in locating the woman," Crouch wrote.
According to the agent, the woman had heard Todd speaking with Crouch on the phone stating that he was “working with the feds.” The false information made the victim question whether she should file a police report.
The FBI declined to respond to repeated phone calls from ABC News.
The affidavit was filed by Crouch on July 9, and Todd was arrested the following day on charges of kidnapping across state lines – a charge that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Todd appeared in a US District Court in Rochester on July 22, at which point he requested a private attorney. He has not yet entered a plea, and no new court date has been set.
