Kidnapped Ride-Share Driver Forced to Drive Man from Texas to Florida, Say Federal Prosecutors
Federal officials say a man in Texas held a ride-share driver hostage with a gun and made the driver drive more than 1,000 miles to South Florida.
A 23-year-old man named Miguel Alejandro Pastran Hernandez asked a ride-share service to pick him up at a closed gas station near Arlington, Texas, on Friday night, according to a statement Thursday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
“Pastran Hernandez pulled out a gun and the victim heard a round being chambered in the firearm,” federal prosecutors said.
“Pastran Hernandez threatened to tie up and put the driver in the back of the vehicle,” it said. “Pastran Hernandez then ordered the victim to drive to Florida, through multiple states.”
A police report says that Pastran Hernandez made the driver call their children while they were in Louisiana on a Friday night and Saturday morning to let them know they would be away on a long work trip.
The lawsuit said that around that time, Pastran Hernandez also saw that the driver had a 9-mm gun in the car and took it.
The driver and Pastran Hernandez got to Florida on Saturday night. On Sunday, they went to Miami Beach, where Pastran Hernandez saw what might have been a second victim, according to the lawsuit.
Prosecutors say Pastran Hernandez told the driver to go to a store in Hialeah on Monday to get things for a second kidnapping for ransom.
While at the store, the driver got away from Pastran Hernandez. Hernandez was later caught with a gun loaded in his bag, according to authorities.
It was said in the lawsuit that Pastran Hernandez planned to kidnap someone else and hold them for a $3 million ransom.
Pastran Hernandez went to federal court on Tuesday to face charges of kidnapping, carjacking, and having a gun to help with a dangerous crime. Prosecutors said he was told to be held.
The public defender for Pastran Hernandez did not answer a call for comment Thursday night.
His meeting for pretrial detention is set for Monday. Police say that the arraignment meeting will happen on September 3.
It takes more than 1,300 miles to drive from Arlington to Hialeah.