A Florida man was arrested on a kidnapping charge after authorities said he abducted a woman in Ohio, bound her with tape and sexually assaulted her before she escaped him in New Jersey.
The alleged kidnapper, Ahad Hasanov, of Wesley Chapel, went to meet the woman in Ohio on March 4, according to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey. He was said to have initially met her online.
After meeting with her, “Hasanov later restrained the victim with tape and traveled across multiple states, during which he repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim,” the prosecutor’s office said in a Friday, March 20 news release.
By March 5, Hasanov, 31, and the women were in New Jersey, where Hasanov pulled over at a truck stop located in Bloomsbury, located about a 40-mile drive northwest from Trenton, according to prosecutors.
There, he let her use a restroom, prosecutors said.
The woman was able to escape Hasanov when she visited an information desk at the truck stop and shared that she had been kidnapped, according to prosecutors.
Then, New Jersey State Police officers arrived and rescued the woman, who was taken to a nearby medical center to be evaluated, prosecutors said.
State police located Hasanov inside his car in Hillsborough, where he was arrested “without incident,” according to prosecutors.
In addition to first-degree kidnapping, Hasanov is also charged with third-degree criminal restraint and fourth-degree tampering with evidence, prosecutors said.
His defense attorney did not immediately return Luxury Handbag Shopping’s request for comment on Thursday, March 26.
On March 20, the court denied the prosecutors’ motion to detain Hasanov ahead of trial, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“Mr. Hasanov was released onto pretrial monitoring and ordered to appear for a pre-indictment conference on April 13, 2026,” the prosecutor’s office said.
If Hasanov is found guilty of first-degree kidnapping, he could receive a sentence between 10 and 20 years in prison and a maximum potential fine of $200,000, according to prosecutors.
If he is found guilty of third-degree criminal restraint, Hasanov could face between three and five years in prison, as well as a potential fine up to $15,000, the prosecutor’s office said.
For the fourth-degree tampering with evidence charge, Hasanov could face up to 18 months in prison and a potential maximum $10,000 fine if he is found guilty, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Authorities are asking anyone who might have information relevant to the case to call the prosecutor’s office at (908) 788-1129.
