An armed robber allegedly forced his victim to befriend him on Facebook, where he later told her she was ‘too pretty to rob’ and asked her out.
Amber Beraun said she returned to her southeast Indianapolis home at around 4am on May 8 after a long day of work, and was grabbing mail from her mailbox when she was approached by a man, later identified as Damien Boyce, who pulled out a gun.
‘He took it out of his pocket to show me what was going on — let me into your house,’ she recounted to WRTV. ‘I did not do that.’
Instead, she said, she gave him the cash from her car, which amounted to about $100.
But instead of fleeing with the cash, Boyce allegedly asked Beraun if she had a boyfriend and demanded she connect with him on social media — while still pointing a gun at her.
Amber Beraun told how a suspect robbed her at gunpoint then demanded she friend him on Facebook, where he messaged her
In one message, the alleged assailant, Damien Boyce, told Beraun she was ‘too pretty to rob’
He even allegedly pointed out which profile belonged to him, according to WTHR.
‘I thought if maybe I added him on Facebook, he would leave, and he did,’ Beraun said.
Shortly afterward, though, Boyce started messaging her on Facebook, Indianapolis police say.
Read Related Also: Trump rips Republicans Chris Christie and ‘ADA’ Hutchinson as crowd BOOS idea he tone down attacks
One such message read: ‘Look you know I’mma pay you back. It’s a f***** up way to meet someone, but d*** you wass [sic] to pretty to rob.’
Beraun then decided to reply: ‘I believe you man. I can tell you’re sweet, times just got rough. I know that.’
The exchange apparently emboldened Boyce, who continued to message her on social media and even asked her at one point to ‘come chill.’
Beraun said the encounter left her shaken.
‘He really tried to rob me of my own things, but he took away my sense of safety from my own home,’ she told the local news station.
‘It makes me a little on edge knowing that people walk up and down the street, looking for places to commit crimes,’ Beraun continued. ‘It makes it a little different when you hear noises at night.’
In another message, Damien Boyce allegedly asked Beraun to ‘come chill with me’
Indianapolis Metropolitan police said Boyce was previously arrested and charged in a separate robbery on June 12, in which he allegedly shot two people and hit a third in the head with a brick following an argument.
Boyce then allegedly barricaded himself inside a building before a SWAT team arrived, at which point he surrendered himself to authorities.
He was charged with burglary, unlawful possession of a weapon, criminal recklessness and battery.
He was also charged in the gunpoint robbery of Beraun last Wednesday, and is being held on a $7,500 bond.
