Man charged with extorting money from elderly lady

RALEIGH -- Police seized crack pipes and a handgun from the hotel room of a man charged with threatening to kill an elderly woman if she did not withdraw for him thousands of dollars from her bank account, according to a search warrant made public today.

Kenneth Tull Osborne, 51, of Raleigh was charged last Thursday with felony extortion in connection with the incident, a Wake County Jail spokesman said Tuesday.

The 84-year-old woman became acquainted with Osborne through her son, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.

Investigators think Osborne borrowed $61,500 from the woman dating back to August.

"She trusted the suspect and believed he would repay the loan she was making to him," Sughrue said.

Police say the woman agreed to pick Osborne up on the morning of Oct. 2 at the Days Inn Hotel and drive him to First Citizens bank, at 2500 Clark Ave., so that he could repay the money he had borrowed. As they left the hotel, three other people in a sports utility vehicle followed them to the bank, Sughrue said.

When the woman and Osborne arrived at the bank, he demanded that she withdraw $25,000 from her account and give him the cash. He told her that the three people in the SUV would kill her, her son and him if she refused.

Police said the woman went into the bank intending on following Osborne's demand for cash.

"A bank employee believed something was wrong and that led to the police being called," Sughrue said.

The police arrived just before 11:45 a.m. and placed Osborne under arrest. They also located the three people who followed the woman to the bank parking lot, Sughrue said.

The three were not charged in connection with the extortion, but police did arrest one for an outstanding warrant and a second for possession of a firearm by a felon. When police went to the hotel, they arrested a third person for an outstanding warrant, Sughrue said.

In addition to metal crack pipes and a Smith & Wesson 9-mm handgun, investigators also found ammunition and traces of cocaine in the hotel room, court records show.

Osborne is in custody at the Wake County jail in lieu of $20,000 bail, the jail spokesman said.