Thread: CA: Family held hostage, father kidnapped

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 9892.story

Ontario family held hostage, father kidnapped


By Susannah Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:18 AM PST, February 19, 2008

An Ontario father of three was beaten and kidnapped Monday afternoon by a band of men who police said had held his wife and children hostage for hours as they waited for his return home, authorities said today.

Santiago Contreras, 34, was abducted at gunpoint about 2 p.m. from his residence in the 700 block of West Jacaranda Street, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, according to a statement by Ontario Police.

Authorities said between three and five men arrived at Contreras' house at about 9:30 a.m. and allegedly forced their way inside. Once in the home, the men held the family hostage for about five hours until Contreras returned, said Ontario Police Det. Al Parra. The auto repairman's family members -- three teenage children and his wife, who had returned from grocery shopping to discover the holdup -- were not harmed, police said.

When Contreras arrived, family members told police that the intruders beat him and then fled with him in a light-colored vehicle that looked like a Ford Excursion or Explorer model from 1998 to 2002. The vehicle has two horizontal black stripes below the side windows, and a red and white rope hangs from the car's rear hatch, police said.

Police have no suspected motive and the family has received no ransom demand, said Ontario Police Lt. Brad Wirtz. Authorities said they believed it is possible that the suspects fled across the border to Mexico.
Anyone with information about Contreras' whereabouts is asked to call Parra at (909) 395-2752.

susannah.rosenblatt@latimes.com

If this family were illegals, the FIRST thing that would come to mind is that now they will get the victims visa to stay in the US.

The number of kidnapping hispanics have gone up, how many kidnappers have been caught? How many "victims" got a stay in the US card free?

Kidnapping seems to be popular in Mexico. Now its creeping its way into America.