Hollister
– More details have emerged from a Monday night carjacking and
kidnapping that took four teens on a 90-minute ride through
Hollister.
Hollister – More details have emerged from a Monday night carjacking and kidnapping that took four teens on a 90-minute ride through Hollister.
Esteban Hernandez, a 25-year-old man who resides at the labor camp on Southside Road, was arrested Tuesday morning by the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of several felony counts of kidnapping and carjacking, deputies said. Authorities believe the four teenage victims feared their lives were in danger if they did not give the man a ride, said Officer Rosie Betanio, a spokeswoman for the Hollister Police Department.
“The victims were in fear and felt they could not leave,” Betanio said.
One of the teen victims sat down and shared his story with the Free Lance on Wednesday afternoon. He said he and his two friends were waiting for another friend to get a jacket at about 9:30pm Monday when a man approached their car and began banging on the driver’s side window, the teen said.
When the teen opened the door, the man flung it open so hard it hit the curb, the teenager said.
“I’m 200 pounds and he pulls me out of the car with one arm,” the teen said.
The man asked the driver what gang he claimed to be in, the teen said. The teenager told the man that he was not a gang member, he said.
As his friend came out of the house with his jacket, the man turned and rushed him, also asking what gang he claimed to be in, the victim said. The carjacker took one of the other teens by his neck and slammed him on the car’s hood, the victim said.
The carjacker told the teens that he would kill them if he did not give them a ride and that he was a member of the Norteño street gang, the teen said. The man began to apologize, but became agitated when the victims denied him a ride, the teen said.
Fearing for their lives and unsure if the man was armed, the victims let the man get into the car, the teen said. The kidnapper then told the teens that his friend lived out by the “chocolate factory,” and eventually directed them to a house on McCloskey Road, the victim said.
Once the victims arrived, the carjacker took the keys, got out of the car and began banging on the door of the home, the teen said. Another man opened the door and the kidnapper asked to speak to his brother, who was not there, the victim said.
The carjacker then asked a man at the home for drugs or beer, eventually loading 40 to 50 beers from two coolers into the car, the victim said.
Authorities received a call from a 20-year-old man on McCloskey Road who witnessed the kidnapping, deputies said. The 20-year-old man reported the license plate number of the car and said the carjacker was wearing a red hat, black striped shirt and had numerous arm tattoos, deputies said.
The kidnapper then drove the teens back into town and through the area of Villa Hermosa, north of Fourth Street and west of San Benito Street to look for “crank,” the victim said.
“He kept saying he was on the run, he was facing life in prison, that he’d kill anybody,” the victim said.
After the carjacker was unable to find anyone with drugs, he asked the victims for a place to eat, the teen said.
The victim suggested El Grullense on the corner of Fourth and Line Streets, he said. Once inside with the teen, the kidnapper began to tell other customers that he’d carjacked the teens, the victim said. The man bought two burritos and demanded the victim order an item for himself, the teen said. The victim said he ordered a soda.
“He was buying us food,” the teen said. “It was weird.”
The man gave the keys back to the victim and after he finished they drove down to San Benito Street, the teen said. At this point the teens tried to be nice to and joke with their kidnapper, the victim said. The carjacker ordered the teen to pull over to pick up a man and a woman, the victim said.
“He jumps out of the car and asks, ‘What you claim? What you claim?'” the victim said.
The couple told the carjacker that they were Norteño and got into the car, the teen said.
The carjacker then directed the driver to the labor camp on Southside Road, where he told the two other people and the teens that they were free to leave, the teen said.
The victim said they drove away slowly.
When the teens arrived home, deputies took their statements and directed Hollister police officers and sheriff’s deputies to the labor camp, Sheriff’s Lt. Roy Iler said. Deputies searched the camp and the homeless shelter, where a security guard identified a man matching the carjacker’s description, Iler said. The man ran, Iler said.
Deputies chased the man, but were unable to catch him, Iler said. Deputies later found the man’s shoes on a road near the labor camp and a red hat near the top of a 75-foot embankment, he said.
Deputies staked out Hernandez’s room after receiving a call from the homeless shelter manager that he had returned to the labor camp and told her that he had been chased by police, deputies said. Authorities received permission from Hernandez’s probation officer to search his room, Iler said.
At 6:15am, deputies entered Hernandez’s room where he was found laying on a bed, deputies said. Deputies found two receipts from El Grullense in a pair of Hernandez’s pants, deputies said. Hernandez was arrested at 9am, Iler said.
Hernandez is being held at the San Benito County Jail in lieu of $351,000 in bail. If convicted of carjacking, he could face up to nine years in state prison, according to the California Penal Code.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
