Zero stars.
An armed passenger forced a person working for a ride-sharing app to drive from Arlington to South Florida last week, law enforcement authorities said.
Miguel Pastran Hernandez was scheduled to be dropped off at a gas station in North Texas on Friday night, but upon arrival he insisted on a new destination about 1,300 miles away, court documents show.
Pastran Hernandez pulled out a gun and the driver heard the sound of a cartridge being chambered, according to an account of the drive provided by an FBI special agent in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Miami.
Pastran Hernandez threatened to tie up the driver and put him in the back seat of the car, authorities said. The victim begged Pastran Hernandez to let him drive the car so he could have an opportunity to escape, the driver later told the special prosecutor.
According to the affidavit, Pastran Hernandez told the victim to drive toward Florida while obeying the speed limit.
The driver felt obliged to follow the passenger’s instructions.
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They drove until about 11 a.m. on Saturday, when Pastran Hernandez demanded that the driver call the driver’s children and say that the driver was on a long business trip so that the children would not become suspicious of the absence.
Pastran Hernandez found that the driver had an unloaded 9mm pistol in the car. The driver had stored ammunition separately in the car. The passenger took the gun and ammunition.
Pastran Hernandez told the victim to continue driving east toward Miami, authorities said.
They arrived in Florida on Saturday evening.
Pastran Hernandez ordered the victim to drive to Miami Beach, where, according to the affidavit, Pastran Hernandez observed from a distance a person he said he planned to kidnap and hold for a $3 million ransom.
On Monday, Pastran Hernandez sent the driver to a Dollar General store in Hialeah, Florida, to buy supplies for the planned kidnapping, authorities said.
The driver hid in the store’s bathroom. Pastran Hernandez walked or ran away. About three hours later, authorities found Pastran Hernandez in Hollywood, Florida.
Pastran Hernandez admitted in an interview with a police officer that he kidnapped the driver at gunpoint, the special agent wrote in the affidavit.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday charged Pastran Hernandez with kidnapping, car theft with intent to cause death and great bodily harm, and possession of a firearm to commit a violent crime.
