By Jonathan Edwards
With a gun pointed at her chest, Amber Beraun marched to her car to fetch the roughly $100 (about R1,800) in tips she had made earlier delivering pizzas around Indianapolis. After she handed over the money, the stranger robbing her made an additional demand: Add him on Facebook.
Still being held at gunpoint, Beraun typed the man's name into her Facebook app and, after he directed her to the correct profile, tapped "Add Friend."
The man messaged her within hours of fleeing on his bicycle. He apologised, said she was too pretty to rob and promised to pay her back. Then, he invited her to "come chill" with him, according to screenshots Beraun shared with The Washington Post.
Instead, Beraun contacted police, who spent the next 1 1/2 months investigating. Last week, Damien Boyce, a 31-year-old Indianapolis resident, was charged with armed robbery, a felony, and illegally carrying a handgun, a misdemeanour. Boyce, who is in custody awaiting trial, faces up to 17 years behind bars if convicted of both charges. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 5.
Defense attorney Kailey Ruggiero said Boyce is "presumed innocent and his defense team looks forward to holding the State of Indiana to their burden of proof at trial."
Around 4 am on May 8, Beraun arrived home after delivering pizzas, she told The Post. She ducked into her house to feed her pets before popping back outside to check the mailbox. As she re-emerged, a stranger approached, prompting her to ask if she could help him, she said. He asked if she lived there. Unnerved, Beraun told a truth and a lie: Yes, she lived there - with her boyfriend, who was home, she said.
That's when the man allegedly pulled a handgun out of his hoodie pocket, aiming it at her chest. The man told Beraun that he had planned to break into her house, but because she had unexpectedly shown up, he demanded she fork over her keys, she said.
Beraun told him she didn't have anything of value in her home but could give him the $100 in tips she had made that night, an Indianapolis police detective wrote in a sworn affidavit. The man agreed, ordering Beraun to her 2006 Chevy Impala to fetch the money, she told The Post.
Beraun did as she was told, opening the driver's side door and grabbing the cash from her purse, she said. While doing so, she offered the man a pizza she had taken home from her job, telling him something along the lines of "I know it's hard when you're struggling."
After he declined, Beraun gave him the money, she said.
"I give him the $100 thinking that's enough to sate him, and he will hopefully leave me alone," she said.
Instead, the stranger mumbled something about his family, then asked a question that she did not expect: "Do you really have a boyfriend?"
"Yes," she told him.
"Does he treat you right?" she recalled him saying.
Beraun said she was stunned, unsure of how to respond, but eventually said yes.
Then, the man did something else unexpected: He asked whether they could be Facebook friends, the police affidavit states. With a gun still trained on her, Beraun agreed, police said. The man allegedly told her that his name was "Damien Boyce," and after she typed that into Facebook's search bar, he pointed out his profile before hopping on his bike and taking off.
Later, Boyce accepted Beraun's friend request, police said, and his first message came less than three hours after he had left her place: "Look just know imma pay you back," he allegedly wrote, acknowledging that robbing her was a bad way to meet and that she was too pretty to rob.
Beraun replied later that morning, according to messages Beraun provided to The Post and that police subpoenaed from Facebook: "I believe you man. I can tell you're sweet, times just get rough I know that."
Boyce told her he felt bad and swore to pay her back, the messages show. Then, Boyce allegedly invited her to "come chill with me."
"I do have a man," Beraun replied. "You know I can't do that lol. I wish you the best tho."
Beraun told The Post that she hesitated to report the incident, fearing that, since the man knew where she lived, he might return. She fled to her boyfriend's place and at his urging called police the night of May 8, some 16 hours after the robbery.
"Meanwhile, I'm still shaking, crying. I was a mess," she said.
Jolted by what happened, Beraun said, she struggled to sleep in the weeks afterward and grew anxious whenever she was alone. Things have gotten better since then, and she's grateful she wasn't hurt. But, she added, she lost something far more valuable than a hundred dollars.
"He also took my sense of safety," she said. "Ultimately, I no longer feel safe on my own."
The Washington Post