Loves make people do the craziest things sometimes, from traveling to the end of the world to emptying bank accounts and even cutting one's family off! These are extreme lengths people can go to prove their love.
This Australian man took his own "act of love" to bizarre heights, and now he's in serious trouble with the law.
Keep reading for the details.
The 35-year-old man, identified as Paul Lera, was arrested for making a false accusation and representation that led to a serious investigation in the country which cost the state government more than AU $25,000 and the police 100-200 hours of their working time wasted.
Lera has been charged with faking his kidnapping to spend New year's Eve with his lover instead of his girlfriend.
Lera reportedly left home on New Year's Eve, telling his partner he had a meeting with a financial guy in Dapto.
Later that night, Lera's girlfriend received a text from a sex worker who claimed Lera had been abducted and they would release him in the morning in exchange for his bike.
The text message reportedly went like this.
"[Partner] it's ‘[name]' thank you for sending Paul to me, now payback is a b**** bye bye. But I'm going to be fair OK, we will keep him with us until the morning when (sic) he gives us his bike we call it square, no one's touching him my word I'll give you hun OK.”
On seeing the upsetting text, Lera's partner called police officers, informing them about Lera's kidnap and how they requested for his $7,000 dirt bike.
Police immediately began investigating his whereabouts while going through countless CCTV footage and interviewing witnesses in the area.
The light finally came at the end of the tunnel when officers saw Lera in one of the footage entering his lover's house with an overnight bag, coincidentally around the time he sent the text.
The police confirmed in a statement that Lera had faked his own kidnap, and they also revealed in court that he called his father the day after the "kidnap" to say he would be left in the car by his abductors.
In further investigations, police also discovered the calls came in from Dapto, not Wollongong where he claimed to be kidnapped.
More CCTV footage showed Lera and his lover hopping into her car after which the woman came back on her own, making it look like she had dropped Lera at his van.
Police then classified Lera's white van as a "high-risk vehicle stop" as they believed a captive must have been inside it.
Lera then told the police he had been kidnapped by some men and driven off, before they dropped him at that spot to wait for further instructions. Police caught up to his dubious way and told him no vehicle matched the one he described as belonging to the kidnappers.
His mother, sister, and girlfriend were present at the case hearing, which the magistrate described as "quite bizarre." He was, however, granted bail and expected to return to court later this month.
