HAMILTON CO.— A McLeansboro woman has been busted along with a Washington Park, Mo., man after the pair were nabbed by Kentucky police for luring unsuspecting men to motel rooms through social media websites and then robbing them.
Danielle Lynn Vineyard of McLeansboro and Willie Hardy, Jr., of Missouri were take into custody near Fort Campbell Ky., January 31, after investigators say Vineyard used social media internet sites to attract men and then set up meetings with them in hotels for the purpose of having a “date.” Authorities say when the men arrived Vineyard would answer the door and she and Willie would proceed to beat and rob the men.
Authorities say that 21-year-old Danielle Lynn Vineyard of McLeansboro and Willie Hardy Jr. were arrested January 31 by Clarksville police who said the victim went to the EconoLodge on Wilma Randolph Boulevard to “hang out” with a woman he had met on a website called “Tagged.”
However when the man got to the room, Vineyard opened the door and invited him in and when he entered, he was greeted by a black man sticking a gun in his face.
Police say Vineyard then grabbed his legs and Hardy struck the man in the mouth with the handgun, knocking him to the ground.
The couple then took the man’s money, wallet, keys and cell phone and ordered him into the bathroom where he was forced to undress.
Hardy and Vineyard fled, presumably with the victim’s belongings including his clothes.
The man then called police.
A Clarksville police department spokeswoman Natalie Hall said the victim described the couple and authorities immediately recognized the couple because they had allegedly participated in similar schemes in the same area.
“She is the one who makes contact on networking websites,” Hall said. “Men respond and that’s how they do the social media hookup.”
But instead of a “date,” the men are said to find themselves beaten, robbed and naked…and hesitant to contact authorities.
Once authorities realized who they were looking for, they tracked the couple down to Kelley’s Big Burger on Riverside Drive in Clarksville near the river.
Hardy ran from authorities but was caught and a gun fell out of his clothing while he was in the process of resisting, Hall said.
Willie Hardy Jr. was taken into custody and charged with Aggravated Robbery, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, Assault, Evading Arrest and Resisting Police.
Hardy is said to have fought with officers and struck one in the chest while resisting, injuring another officer’s back during the scuffle.
Both officers are expected to be okay.
Jr. was booked into the Montgomery County jail on $20,000 cash bond.
Ms. Danielle Lynn Vineyard was charged with Aggravated Robbery and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
When caught, Vineyard is said to have had her latest victim’s cell phone in her possession, along with a pipe used to smoke marijuana, which might explain the stop at the burger joint, as Kelley’s Big Burger is one of the better eateries in the area.
Vineyard was booked into the county jail on a $10,000 cash bond.
Ms. Vineyard doesn’t have much local history in Hamilton County except for a traffic citation, a civil case; and a singular felony battery charge in 2009, which was pled down to a misdemeanor in March of 2010.
There’s no indication on file of Vineyard making a practice run in that former felony battery case as it pertains to luring men into motels to rob them.