California police rescued a 14-year-old girl from a violent kidnapping after her friends used Snapchat to help them find her in a San Jose motel room, where she was being held by three men.
via NYDN:
The victim, who was also drugged and raped by one of them, managed to use the social media app to notify her friends that she’d been kidnapped and did not know her location, the San Jose Police Department said in a news release Thursday.
Her friends then tracked her down through Snapchat and learned she was at an E-Z 8 Motel, where police found her and her captors just moments later, according to the release.
An investigation found that one of the suspects, Albert Vasquez, met the girl Tuesday morning in the nearby city of Capitola and gave her some sort of drug to incapacitate her, authorities said.
The 55-year-old creep then called two accomplices, identified by police as Antonio Salvador and Hediberto Avarenga, who helped him place the victim in a car, according to the release.
Police said Vasquez sexually assaulted the teen inside the vehicle and in the motel room where the trio brought her to.
Vasquez was arrested the same day and slapped with a slew of felony charges, including rape by intoxication, digital penetration with a child under the age of 14, lewd act with a child and kidnapping.
Salvador, 34, and Avarenga, 31, were both charged with kidnapping on Wednesday.
Authorities said the investigation is continuing and anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the police department.
We’re relieved the girl was found alive. Prayer go out to her family.
