Cops: Man Made Woman Watch Roots to Confront Her 'Racism'

An Iowa man was arrested Monday after being accused of employing an unusual attempt to school a woman on prejudice and discrimination. The Gazette reports that 52-year-old Robert Lee Noye is facing charges of first-degree harassment and false imprisonment after he allegedly forced a woman at his Cedar Rapids home to sit with him and watch the 1977 Alex Haley miniseries Roots, a nine-hour program about slavery and liberation. Per a criminal complaint, Noye's reasoning for the mandated TV time was so the woman "could better understand her racism."

The woman apparently tried to escape, at which point Noye told her to "remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago," the complaint notes. It's not clear how long the woman allegedly was made to sit with Noye, or how she and Noye know each other. (More weird crimes stories.)