Cops: Couple faked kidnapping to get money for drugs

They claimed they had been kidnapped by two armed men in a sport utility vehicle who were holding them in return for money the kidnappers owed for drugs, police said.

It turned out Mastic Beach couple Stephanie Benatatos, 21, and Zifiris "John" Valsamis, 24, faked the whole episode Sunday in an attempt to obtain $400 from her parents to buy illegal narcotics, authorities said.

Now the two are under arrest, charged with second-degree attempted grand larceny by extortion and fifth-degree conspiracy. In addition, Benatatos was charged with second-degree burglary for stealing $40 from her parents' home on Sunday, Suffolk police said.

At their arraignment Monday in First District Court in Central Islip, Benatatos was ordered held on $75,000 bail; Valsamis was ordered held on $100,000 bail.

Orders of protection for her mother, Kim Benatatos, were issued at her request. Kim Benatatos declined to comment at court, but told the judge, "I just want her to get help." Valsamis' attorney, Craig E. McElwee of North Babylon, declined to comment on the case. Stephanie Benatatos was assigned a Legal Aid attorney, who could not be reached for comment.

Police said the incident unfolded Sunday when the couple called Benatatos' mother at 5:20 p.m., claiming they had been abducted from the Mastic Beach area by two armed men in a black SUV. Later, police said Valsamis told his girlfriend's mother that the kidnappers had released him, but would hurt her daughter if he did not pay money he owed them for drugs.

An investigation by Seventh Squad detectives determined the kidnapping did not occur.

Police did not explain how detectives reached that conclusion, but said Benatatos and Valsamis were arrested Sunday night and charged in the hoax. In the felony complaint against them, police said the pair admitted to faking the kidnapping, but no motive for the crime was given.

Valsamis was also arraigned on unrelated outstanding charges, including robbery in the first degree for the armed robbery of a Mastic Beach convenience store in January.