GREENWOOD, Ind. -- A Greenwood couple is accused of running a scam from their home involving hundreds of men and the promise of sex.
Jose Roman and Shelly Chance were arrested on Monday after police investigated rumors that they were roughing up men looking to pay for sex, 6News' Ben Morriston reported.
"On Monday we received a tip that she (Chance) was working through a telephone chat line to lure gentlemen into her home on Pearl Street in Greenwood for sex," said Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher.
Investigators said the couple would work as a team. First, Chance would solicit men, offering to have sex with them for $100. A man would then come to the couple's home, where Chance would ask for the money up front. Once the man paid, Chance would turn on a pornographic movie and go to freshen up, police said.
Once Chance was out of the room, Roman would storm in and ask what the man was doing there and what he was doing with his girlfriend, intimidating them until they left, police said.
"Basically, a hustle, where they thought they were going to get sex for $100, and then the boyfriend would come in -- and he's a rather large gentleman and very intimidating in stature -- and he would just scare them away and they'd keep the money," Pitcher said.
Chance and Roman told investigators that there were hundreds of victims in the scam dating back to 2006, including at least five men in the last weekend alone.
"It's embarrassing man, I don't want to talk about it," Roman told Morriston when he answered the door at the couple's home on Wednesday.
Police said the couple used the money from the scam to buy crack cocaine. Investigators confiscated crack pipes and a quantity of the drug inside the home on Monday, Pitcher said. Dontai Ferrell, who police said was the couple's dealer, was also arrested.
Neighbors said they are angry that the couple was running the scam so close to their homes.
"This has always been a good little neighborhood. I've lived in here 36 years, my mom's lived here 36 years. We never had any problems," said Anita Helms. "We don't need that trash and that's what it is, it's trash."
Chance, who was in the Johnson County Jail on Wednesday, was preliminarily charged with possession of cocaine, maintaining a common nuisance, prostitution, possession of marijuana and resisting law enforcement. Roman was charged with narcotics-related offenses.
