Extortion Charged After 7 Years of Collections : Scared News Vendor Pays Man $50,000

A shy 400-pound news vendor paid $50,000 over the last seven years to a man who forced him to make bets he could not win, including one that he would lose 100 pounds in a month, police said.

“This is a guy who is very docile, tame, who doesn’t want any trouble,” said police Inspector Bob Shepherd.

Shepherd said the vendor was “completely dominated” by David Dowd, 36, who was arrested in Lincoln County, Me., on warrants issued in San Francisco. The warrants charged two counts of extortion.

The 28-year-old vendor was down to his last sweater and pair of shoes when his parents contacted the police.

Under repeated threats of beatings, the vendor, who lived with his parents, was sending Dowd--in Maine--the $300 to $320 he was earning weekly by selling newspapers on street corners.

Shepherd said the betting started in 1978 as wagers on card games and soon escalated into covering all sorts of sporting events, with Dowd steadily increasing the amounts.

The vendor never won a bet, police said. At one point, he was forced to bet $10,000 that he could lose 100 pounds in a month.

When the vendor failed to make a payment last month, Dowd flew out from Maine, pushed him into an alley and beat and kicked him, officers said.

Dowd demanded $6,500 for his travel expenses and then said he would put the vendor’s parents in the hospital and burn down their home if he didn’t pay.

The vendor finally told his parents and they called police, who monitored subsequent threatening telephone calls.