(DailyVantage.com) – A Texas man was charged in August with kidnapping at gunpoint a Lyft rideshare driver and forcing the victim to take him to Florida.
According to an August 22 press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, 23-year-old Miguel Alejandro Pastran Hernandez faces federal charges of kidnapping, carjacking with the intent to cause serious bodily harm or death, and possession of a firearm while committing a violent crime.
The incident began at about 10:30 p.m. on August 16 in Arlington, Texas, when Pastran Hernandez pulled a gun on the driver of the Lyft car he ordered and told the driver to take him to South Florida.
When they arrived in Florida on August 17, Pastran Hernandez told the driver of his plans to kidnap another victim to hold for ransom. On Monday, August 19, Pastran Hernandez ordered the driver to take him to a store in Hialeah so he could purchase supplies for the second kidnapping. While the two were in the store, the driver got away from Pastran Hernandez who was later arrested.
At the time of his arrest, Patran Hernandez was carrying a bag containing a loaded firearm.
During an August 20 hearing in the US District Court in Miami, a federal judge ordered Pastran Hernandez detained. The pre-trial detention hearing was held on August 26 and Pastran Hernandez will be arraigned on September 3.
Lyft told CNN in a statement that it was assisting law enforcement in the investigation. The company said it had offered support to the driver and permanently closed Pastran Hernandez’s account with the platform.
According to an FBI affidavit, Pastran Hernandez admitted to kidnapping the driver at gunpoint and forcing him to drive to Florida.
Pastran Hernandez is being detained in a federal prison in Miami, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
In May, a former police officer in Atlanta was arrested in connection to the fatal shooting of a Lyft driver whom he believed was attempting to kidnap him.
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