Saratoga police charge illegal immigrant with kidnapping woman
Monday, July 27, 2009
By Tatiana Zarnowski (Contact)
Gazette Reporter



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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Authorities arraigned a Corinth man this morning in connection with the Thursday kidnapping of a 24-year-old woman.

Victor Vladimir Hernandez Perez, 23, of 222 Center St. Apt. 3, was charged with felony kidnapping and felony robbery. A state trooper who recognized the vehicle description provided to police pulled him over on Route 9N last night, and after that Hernandez talked to city police, police said.

Hernandez, a citizen of El Salvador, told authorities he is in the U.S. illegally. Police said Hernandez has been in the country for about six years after crossing the Mexican border and works as a cook at local restaurants.

They declined to name the restaurants, citing the continuing investigation.

If convicted of the crimes, he would serve his sentence here before being deported.

Authorities made the arrest announcement this afternoon at City Hall, citing interagency cooperation between city and state police and the Saratoga County Sheriff's Department as key in making the arrest. They executed a search warrant on his home today and recovered one gun, Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III said.

The 24-year-old woman was abducted at gunpoint in the area of Grand Avenue and Walnut Street Thursday night. Police said she was walking on Walnut Street talking to her boyfriend on her cellphone when she was hit in the back of the head with a pistol, knocked to the ground, dragged into the side door of a minivan and ordered to take off her clothes at gunpoint.

Before the call went dead, the boyfriend heard the woman tell the suspect to take her money instead of taking her, police said. He went to the area in search of her and called police.

While city police questioned him, Saratoga County Sheriff deputies responded to a report of a naked woman yelling for help on Howe Road in Greenfield.

The victim had leaped from the moving van in Greenfield after jumping into the front seat and getting the door open. She ran to a nearby home, and two witnesses called police along with the residents of the home, authorities said.

Police said Hernandez had activated the child safety locks in the back of the van, so the woman could not get the back doors open.

She had about $500 in her purse, which remained in the van after she jumped to safety. That's why Hernandez was charged with robbery, authorities said.

http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/j ... 27_abduct/


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