An 18-year-old man is facing kidnapping charges after he allegedly forced a woman into his car Sunday night in Burtonsville and traveled with her to Prince George’s County before they were found by officers Monday back in Burtonsville, Montgomery County police said Tuesday in a statement.
Joel Akakpo of Burtonsville was arrested Monday in Burtonsville and charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of second-degree assault, according to the statement. Akakpo is being held without bond at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit in Rockville. As of Tuesday afternoon, online records did not list a lawyer for Akakpo.
According to police, officers were dispatched at roughly 6:30 p.m. Sunday to the area of Wexhall Drive and Greencastle Road in Burtonsville for the report of a kidnapping, the statement said. Witnesses reported seeing a man grab a woman and force her into a black Infiniti sedan before driving off. The victim threw her purse out of the car window as the vehicle left the area, the statement said.
Police recovered the purse and identified the victim through her ID found inside, the statement said. Later, the suspect was identified by police as Akakpo. The statement did not say how police identified Akakpo as the man who allegedly kidnapped the woman and didn’t identify the victim.
Police spokesperson Shiera Goff said in a statement to Bethesda Today that police would not say whether the suspect and the woman were known to each other “out of respect for the victim’s privacy.”
Police “saturated” the area but didn’t locate the car, the statement said. Later Sunday night, Prince George’s County police reported a call for a suspicious situation involving the same black Infiniti sedan on Flintrock Drive in Beltsville.
According to Montgomery County police, a witness reported seeing a woman inside the sedan screaming for help. The woman had locked the suspect out of the car, but Akakpo allegedly used a rock to break a window and regain entry before driving away again. The statement did not say how the suspect came to be outside of the car.
The car with a broken window was later found abandoned in Medallion Drive in Beltsville, police said. The woman and Akakpo were not with the car and officers from Montgomery and Prince’s George’s counties did not find them during a search of the area, police said.
On Monday, officers found Akakpo and the woman on Almanac Court in Burtonsville and took Akakpo into custody without incident, according to the statement. The statement did not say how officers determined Akakpo would be at that location.
The woman had minor injuries from being forced into the vehicle and from broken glass, police said.
