Officials: Clinton police uncover kidnapping

CLINTON — Six adults and three juveniles were arrested Monday night after officers responded to a noise complaint and found a New York man who allegedly had been kidnapped at gunpoint, police said.

Police said they responded to the parking lot of Clinton Premium Outlets at around 10:30 p.m., after the outlets had closed, for a large group of individuals creating a disturbance.

Officers determined that one of the men in the group, from New Rochelle, N.Y., had been forced into a vehicle at gunpoint and driven to Clinton by other members of the group, police said.

The man later provided a written statement to police about the incident. He said the events began around 11 a.m. when a man called him about doing a “job” involving bank cards. He was instructed to meet with a third person to complete the job and scheduled to meet them at 2 p.m. in Port Chester, New York, the victim said.

He got a ride to the meeting spot but the other person never showed up, so he eventually began walking toward the Port Chester train station, the victim said. At one point four cars pulled up near him and 12 people got out. They forced him into one of the vehicles and headed toward Stamford, the police report said.

The victim told police they stopped at a park, at which point he learned that the group was looking for a person he hadn’t seen in two years, because that person had stolen $7,000 worth of cocaine, according to the police report.

The group returned to the vehicles afterward and made their way to the parking lot in Clinton, where they took his ID, money, credit cards and car keys, the victim told police. They also assaulted the victim, but police arrived soon after, according to the report.

A police canine was brought to the scene to aid in finding evidence, and successfully located a facsimile firearm in the woods near where the group was standing, according to police, who said officers also located a bat, pepper spray and ski masks.

Police said one of the adults in the group is from Stamford, while the rest are from New York. Those arrested are facing numerous charges including first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, first-degree robbery and seconddegree threatening, police said.

Each of the adults was held in lieu of $250,000 bail, and the juveniles were sent to the Bridgeport Juvenile Detention Center, police said.