Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office/Tuscaloosa NewsA man who was arrested for kidnapping after he posed as an Uber driver and picked up college students was wearing a fully erect fake penis when he was taken into custody.
Tommy Wayne Beard, 62, of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, allegedly picked up young women from bars in the area for at least one year that police know of.
Several photos of unconscious, clothed women in his backseat were later discovered, which focused on their ‘breast and crotch area,’ police allege.
Beard was arrested in March and charged with two counts of kidnapping and impersonating a transportation network company driver, KATU ABC 2 reports.
Investigators claim they found a loaded gun and a bottle of hair conditioner after searching Beard’s car at the time of his arrest. Court records also show the 62-year-old was wearing a ‘fully-erect’ artificial penis as he was picked up by police.
The man was arrested after police found an unconscious 22-year-old college student in the back of his vehicle during a routine stop, nearly seven miles in the wrong direction from her home, Tuscaloosa News reports, as per Fox News.
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's OfficeDuring his arrest, Beard told the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Officer he was an Uber driver and was taking the woman home, but this was a lie. When police woke the woman up, she couldn’t remember getting in his car.
Police obtained a warrant for the 62-year-old’s arrest a few days later; he was charged with first-degree kidnapping on March 8. After his arrest, police seized a loaded firearm, an Uber sign, and an artificial ‘erect penis’ he’d been wearing.
These new felony charges came about when police found photos on his phone of other young women who appeared to be unconcious in the back of his vehicle, with one picture in particular grabbing the interest of police.
The picture showed a young woman who was later found in the woods by police one year ago, confused and unsure of where she had been.
Did you catch a ride with this guy? He was pretending to be an Uber driver around Tuscaloosa, and he had pictures of unconscious women in the back seat of his vehicle on his phone. https://t.co/RpCP4u57cx pic.twitter.com/ExZxK2WMg1
— ABC 33/40 News (@abc3340) March 4, 2019
TCVU assistant commander Capt. Kip Hart explained that police had spoken to this woman at the time, in an attempt to find out what had happened to her.
He said:
One of the victims was discovered walking out of the woods in that part of the county and we didn’t know what happened to her. She didn’t know what happened to her.
Investigators say Beard later admitted he had been pretending to be an Uber driver in order to pick people up.
The 62-year-old is being held on a $30,000 bond.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).