| For Immediate Release Case # TBA
May 28, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
|
MAN CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING GIRLFRIEND
FROM JOB AND DRIVING HER THROUGH DESERT
TO VEGAS AGAINST HER WILL
SANTA ANA – A man has been charged with kidnapping his girlfriend from her Santa Ana job and driving her to Las Vegas against her will. Michael Villegas, 24, La Habra, is charged with one felony count of kidnapping and faces a maximum of eight years in state prison if convicted. The People are requesting that the defendant be held on $100,000 bail. Villegas is scheduled to be arraigned today, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. A Department is to be assigned.
At approximately 11:20 a.m. on May 23, 2008, Villegas is accused of showing up at his 26-year-old girlfriend, Jane Doe’s, Santa Ana job. He is accused of grabbing her arm and ordering her to walk outside. Villegas is accused of forcing Jane Doe into the car, slamming the door behind her, and speeding away. A concerned co-worker called 9-1-1 and the victim sent a text message to a friend asking them to call the police.
Villegas is accused of driving Jane Doe all the way to Las Vegas without telling the victim where they were going. The victim did not have any personal property with her, including her identification or money, and feared that the defendant was going to kill her in the desert. Jane Doe’s three young children were left without their mother to take care of them and had to be taken care of by their ill grandmother.
Villegas is accused of driving back to Santa Ana on May 24, 2008, with Jane Doe after his family told him that the police were looking for him. The defendant turned himself in.
Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Nichols of the Family Protection Unit is prosecuting this case.
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