Women held against their will by reality TV show
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: NBC
Florida police have arrested a man who allegedly held young women against their will in a house to shoot a reality show called "Pauper to Princess."
Police said four women forced their way out of the house on Saturday. One of the women told concerned neighbors she had been held against her will. "She stated that they could not leave. That they were scared. That they took their cell phones," a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous said.
When police arrived, they said the show's director, Marc Brilleman, 33, tried to keep the women in the house. He was charged with false imprisonment and later released on $3,000 bail.
The women in the house said they were psychologically abused, lied to, and threatened. The women also claimed they worked for weeks without pay. "They were held against their will. They attempted to leave earlier that day. This Marc gentleman we arrested stated they weren't able to leave and locked the door," Cmdr. Jerome Miller said.
"He told them that all of us neighbors were involved in watching them and that if they came outside of the house or left the house that we would contact him," the neighbor said. She said that wasn't true.
"You could see the camera flash occassionally even though the blinds are down," neighbor Buzz Unger said.
Neighbors also said at night cars full of women would show up at the house and they wondered if laws were being broken. "It's something that you don't expect in a private neighborhood," Unger said.
No one was avaliable for comment at the Apopka home or at Brilleman's Windermere home. The Homeowner's Association said that it had been working toward a way to get the operation out of the home.
