MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Authorities have several people in custody and charges are pending following an alleged kidnapping in Miami-Dade County.
Detectives said it started when a man got a call from a woman he knew, asking him to meet her outside a Walmart off of West Flagler Street and 97th Avenue on Thursday afternoon around 5 p.m.
“He met her there,” said Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. “There was a box rental truck that was with them, and as he was talking to her, another male approached, a Hispanic, heavy set male, who punches him and assaults him, and then forcibly puts him inside the rental box truck.”
After the kidnapping, investigators said the crew got hungry and went to a McDonald’s on West Flagler Street near Southwest 107th Avenue.
It was there, police said, that the victim took a chance and told a McDonald’s staff member he’d been abducted, and the employee called the police.
“Something alerted them. They end up biting the victim and forcibly taking his cellphone and then fleeing in the box truck,” said Zabaleta.
The alleged criminals did not get very far. Officers were able to quickly track them down near Southwest Sixth Street and 97th Avenue, police said.
The victim and the three people in the U-Haul were still being questioned by police late Thursday night.
Two of the men in the U-Haul will be facing charges, one for punching the victim and the other for drugs officers found in his possession, police said.
There could be additional charges as officers continue their investigation.