FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Three out of five men accused of robbing and kidnapping a private driver were behind bars on Wednesday in Broward County, records show.
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According to county and city records on the case, the private driver reported he thought that a repeat customer who owed him $1,200 hired him again.
What the victim didn’t know when he drove to Fort Lauderdale’s Middle River Terrace neighborhood, was that a group of men had a vicious plan, police said.
Detectives reported Christopher Quinones-Prieto set up a meeting with the driver at about 4:15 p.m., Dec. 18, at 1100 NE 18 St., according to the report.
Quinones-Prieto, 28, waited outside in a pickup truck with Joseph Santiago while Kemuel Morales Garces, Yadiel Mangual, and another man waited to ambush the driver in an apartment, according to the report.
The men tied the driver’s wrists with zip ties and his ankles with duct tape before stealing his car keys, iWatch, Air pods, iPhone, and wallet with $900 in cash -- and holding him hostage for more than a day, police said.
“The victim was brought into a bedroom ... told by the suspects he was being held because someone was traveling from California to speak to him,” the arresting detective wrote in his report. “The victim stated he feared he would be killed.”
After nearly 28 hours in the bedroom, the driver escaped at about 9:30 p.m., on Dec. 19 through a window and fractured his ankle after jumping over two fences to get to a neighbor who then called 911, according to police.
Fort Lauderdale detectives arrested Santiago, 23, a Puerto Rican from San Juan who was living in Hollywood, on Dec. 19, and they also found the victim’s stolen car on Dec. 20 in Doral, records show.
More than three months after Santiago’s arrest, correctional deputies held Quinones-Prieto, 28, at the North Broward Bureau, and Morales Garces, 30, and Yadiel Mangual, 26, at the main jail.
Records show BSO deputies arrested Morales Garces and Mangual on Tuesday after Fort Lauderdale police officers arrested Quinones-Prieto on March 14.
Court records show Santiago’s bond was $100,000 and he bonded out of jail on Jan. 15, and his arraignment for felony charges of kidnapping and robbery was on March 17.
Morales Garces, Mangual, and Quinones-Prieto faced charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, and grand theft auto.
For the robbery and grand theft charges, Quinones-Prieto’s bond was $102,500, Mangual’s bond was $20,000, and Morales Garces’s bond was $17,500.
Detective Ali Adamson, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, told Local 10 News that detectives were still investigating the case.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 to remain anonymous.