Gunmen Abduct Dinner Host, Then Free Him

Two men posing as undercover police invaded a private dinner party and abducted the host at gunpoint as his guests fled through side doors, police said Thursday.

James Glidewell, 47, was entertaining friends at his home on Evening Star Lane in Dover Shores at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday when two men appeared at the front door.

One of the two showed a badge and said, “We’re undercover narcotics (agents) investigating your neighbor,” recalled Lisa Rainbolt, 27, Glidewell’s girlfriend.

Glidewell told the men to come back later because he had company, but they stepped inside anyway, she said.

Glidewell said he led them to the back porch to keep them away from his two dinner guests.

He sensed they were not legitimate because “the second guy kept glancing around and kept his hand under his jacket. I knew the gun was going to come out,” he said Thursday. “At that point I was just trying to figure out how to negotiate” with them to prevent violence, he said.

Rainbolt, in another room, said she also sensed something was wrong when she saw the two men were standing close to Glidewell and not letting him back into the house.

At that point, the other dinner guests became concerned and one of them called police, Rainbolt said.

Police and Rainbolt said that the men, upon noticing the guests’ suspicions, ordered everyone into a front room of the house. But Rainbolt fled out the front door, and the intruders chased her for a short distance before giving up. As they did, the other guests, as well as Glidewell’s cook and bartender, slipped out side doors.

The phony officers then confronted Glidewell again, he said, ordering him to drive them away from the house in his car.

“When they put me in the car, we didn’t know what it was all about,” Glidewell said.

He drove them a short distance along Evening Star Lane to Polaris Drive, where the men told him to stop. One of them got into a parked car, described by police as a Lincoln or Mercury.

The other man told Glidewell to drive north along Galaxy Drive as his partner followed closely, police said.

Glidewell said he saw that his passenger carried a police scanner. After a description of Glidewell’s car was broadcast on the scanner, the man ordered Glidewell to stop. He got into the partner’s car, and the two sped off on Irvine Avenue, police said.

As they pulled away, police arrived and began searching the area with the help of a helicopter. The men escaped, but police are continuing the investigation.

The men were described as about 6-foot-1 and 5-foot-11 and muscular. Both men appeared to be in their 30s, wore white pants and had black or dark-brown hair.

Glidewell, owner of a dental lab in Orange, said he thought he might have been targeted because he often throws parties at his two-story home, which may give the impression he is wealthy.

“I’m just a working guy,” Glidewell said. “These guys thought I had a lot of cash” in the house.