Man, 75, claims he was held 2 weeks after visiting prostitute
A 75-year-old man called 911 overnight, saying he was being held against his will in a Holden Heights home after going there with a prostitute 14 days ago.
Orange County Sheriff's deputies surrounded the home, prompting a four-hour standoff that ended peacefully just after 6 a.m.
Four men inside the home were taken into custody for questioning. The victim, later identified as Lloyd Miles Bryant of Jacksonville, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center for tests, where he was in good condition this morning.
Conflicting information from and about Bryant -- whose daughter reported him missing yesterday from the Jacksonville area and told police that he was at a medical appointment Friday -- have deputies still trying to sort out what happened in the house at 1402 41st Street.
"We don't know if it happened the way he said it did," said Sheriff's Commander Janet Meyer.
Bryant called for help and said armed men would not let him leave the house. He told deputies that he was being held in a yellow house without food or water.
Deputies found the man's car behind a brown house and at first tried to get the people inside to come out. When that failed, deputies blanketed the house and used a speaker to demand that they surrender, but the four men barricaded themselves in the back of the house.
"We think they were probably going to bolt out the back, but we had K9 there," Meyer said.
The men and Bryant left the house after 6 a.m., telling deputies they had seen their home on the news. The prostitute who apparently first brought the victim there was not on the scene.
Investigators on the scene said they had not found any weapons during the first search of the home. Most of the investigation will focus on interviews with the four men and Bryant.
The elderly man said he had called for help from a bathroom after finding a charger in the house that allowed him to juice up his cellular phone, deputies said.
He told investigators that the men had overheard him telling the prostitute that he had money on him and took about $100 from him. He also claimed the men stole his ATM card and withdrew more than $3,000 in the time he was there.
How long Bryant had been in the home remained unclear. He said he went there with the prostitute that he had picked up 14 days ago and said he did not make it to his appointment at a Veterans Administration clinic last Friday.
He also told deputies that he was never left alone in the home, so investigators were uncertain how he managed to charge his cell phone.
The home was not a known house of drugs or prostitution, Meyer said.
Neighbors, many of whom were late for work because of the closed streets and swarming deputies, said the house was a rental property with revolving residents.
One neighbor, who did not want her name used, said people came and went in the house at all hours. But many nearby residents are homeowners and kept to themselves to avoid confrontation.
"I never went over there to make friends," said one neighbor who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. "It's best if you're not into what they're into."
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