Former City-County Councilor Curt Coonrod Rolled By "Girlfriend" And Her Real Beau

The former Indianapolis City-County Councilor and Marion County Auditor believed 21-year old Cheyenne Poole was his girlfriend, who he helped out by renting an apartment for her in Lawrence. Instead, a red-faced Curt Coonrod became another crime victim in the city as she and her real boyfriend, 24-year old Ralph Lopez, plotted together to steal his car and money while Poole pretended to be kidnapped by Lopez after Lopez held up Coonrod at gunpoint. Poole and Lopez now face charges of robbery, criminal confinement and auto theft. Lopez also faces a charge for possession of marijuana. WRTV's Jack Rinehart has the sordid details:

A former Indianapolis City-County councilman was robbed at gunpoint and his girlfriend supposedly kidnapped in a scheme orchestrated by the woman and her new boyfriend, police said.

Lawrence police were called to an apartment at 5766 Devers Drive on Saturday, where they were flagged down by Curtis Coonrod, 58.

He told police he had been robbed at gunpoint by a man who kidnapped his girlfriend, Cheyenne Poole, 21, and stole his car.

Coonrod said he and Poole were in the apartment, which he leases for her, when a man burst through the door with a gun, demanding money and saying, "I don't know you. I don't care about you. I will kill you," according to the police report.

Coonrod told police the man taped him to a chair while forcing Poole to go to an ATM and withdrawal $500 using his bank card.

The man then left with the alarm code to Coonrod's house, taking Poole with him, Coonrod told police.

Investigators traced Poole's cellphone to Indianapolis' south side, where they spotted her driving Coonrod's stolen car, according to the police report.

Poole then led police on a high-speed chase, running stop lights before blowing a tire on stop sticks and eventually stopping, police said.

Poole and her passenger, Ralph Lopez, 24, were taken into custody . . . 

UPDATE: An astute reader, former Carmel city council member John Accetturo, wonders why Jack Rinehart missed Coonrod's current link to Mayor James Brainard. It seems Brainard has been paying Coonrod big bucks to serve as one of his financial advisers. Coonrod supposedly met the Poole on a website called sugardaddy.com. You may recall Brainard recently dropped his arts adviser Evan Lurie after he was busted by an undercover IMPD officer for solicitation.

What it didn't report is that Curt Coonrod has been Brainard's financial advisor for years. He has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Carmel to make Brainard's financial projections and budgets dispite the fact our clerk treasurer is paid $90K plus.

I questioned his so called projections every year that I was on the council. No matter what the mayor wants to do Mr. Coonrod provides number showing we will have enough money to do it. This incident shows once again the types of people that Mayor Brainard associates himself with. Remember Evan Lurie the Mayor's Arts promoter that was recently arrested in a a prostiution sting.

The Star has a separate story in which Coonrod makes the incredible claim that he wasn't romantically involved with a woman he admits he met on an Internet dating site; they were just friends:

Coonrod, a former Marion County auditor and city-county councilman, told The Indianapolis Star by phone Monday that he was never romantically involved with Poole, but that they had become good friends. The two met through social media several months ago, Coonrod said, though he could not recall who made the first contact.

“It wasn’t like I thought I was the love of her life and she was the love of my life or anything,” Coonrod said. But as friends, he said, “we were compatible.”

Why can't I ever find friends like Curt? I've got a few bills to pay.