Florida couple fake kidnapping to cover up crack binge

A couple, accused of faking a kidnapping to cover up a crack binge, has been arrested on suspicion of making a false report and fraud.

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William Clifford, 37, and Tammy Landry, 39, of Venice were arrested Tuesday, a day after they arrived at the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office to report that they had been kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to make purchases on a stolen debit card.

According to the Sheriff's Office, detectives who interviewed Clifford and Landry separately noticed several inconsistencies in their stories. Eventually, they admitted that they had made the purchases on a debit card stolen from Landry's 61-year-old mother in order to pay a drug dealer back for four or five rocks of crack cocaine that they had smoked.

So far, investigators have counted fraudulent transactions totaling about $232, according to the Sheriff's Office.