If there was ever a good reason to text from a moving car, this was it.
Police say a Wallingford, Connecticut woman texted her way out of an hours-long kidnapping ordeal at the weekend, leading her boyfriend and authorities to her location.
The kidnapping occurred when the 26-year-old woman left her job at an area nightclub and saw a man waving at her car about a block away on Brewery St. The woman stopped to see if the man, Albert Leclaire, 43, of East Haven, needed help. She said Leclaire told her he had a gun and got into the car.
He then allegedly took her to several ATM machines in the Fair Haven neighbourhood, each time using the money to drive to the housing complex on Franklin Street to buy drugs.
She said Leclaire asked her to perform a sex act, but she refused.
In the midst of this, the woman sent several text messages to her boyfriend, Claudio Boni. First she texted, "Help...," and then began sending texts with her location.
Boni drove to New Haven to look for her, but also called police in Wallingford, who relayed the information to police in New Haven.
Boni eventually found his girlfriend's blue Honda on Wooster Place. New Haven officers converged on the scene a moment later, and Boni motioned to the Honda.
Police said the woman jumped out of the car, screaming, "Help me! Help me!" and ran into the arms of her boyfriend.
Police found Leclaire in the car with his pants and underwear down to his knees. They also found several bags containing crack. Leclaire allegedly told police he'd smoked "too much crack" and was having chest pains.
Police have charged Leclaire with second-degree kidnapping with a firearm, first-degree robbery, robbery involving an occupied motor vehicle, second-degree larceny, criminal attempt to commit sexual assault in the third degree, assault in the third degree, interfering with police and four drug related charges.
Police said the woman had marks on her arm, but was not physically harmed otherwise.
