Police in Massachusetts have arrested a 23-year-old man after rescuing a kidnapped teenager from his car during what began as a “routine traffic stop.””
Officers said they saved the 13-year-old victim from the alleged abduction in Northborough on Wednesday, February 25, according to a news release issued by the Northborough Police Department on Thursday, February 16.
The driver, Jason Hores, was arrested on a kidnapping charge, police said.
It was not currently clear whether Hores had retained an attorney or entered a plea as of Monday, March 2.
Hores was pulled over on February 25, when police saw he had been driving in Northborough with unspecified but “defective equipment,” according to authorities. Northborough is about a 35-mile drive west from Boston.
During the traffic stop, they saw a 13-year-old sitting in Hores’ passenger seat, police said.
“A preliminary investigation determined that the two parties were known to each other but not related,” police said.
Authorities did not specify the potential nature of the relationship between Hores and the teen further.
Officers also discovered that the teen “left their home of their own accord” and had not notified their parents of where they went, according to police.
The potential motive for the alleged kidnapping is unclear.
“I would like to thank Officer Ryan Clark, who pursued this investigation following a routine traffic stop,” Northborough Police Chief Brian Griffin said in a statement on Hores’ arrest. “Officer Clark utilized his police training and immediately knew something was not right. His dedication to the safety of our residents does not go unnoticed.”
If a person is convicted of kidnapping in Massachusetts, they could face up to 10 years in state prison or 2 years in a house of correction, depending on the circumstances of the incident, according to the Law Offices of Stephen Neyman, a Boston-based criminal defense attorney. In some cases, a defendant convicted of the offense could face a greater penalty.
In Massachusetts, kidnapping charges are filed against “whoever, without lawful authority, forcibly or secretly confines or imprisons another person within this commonwealth against his will, or forcibly carries or sends such person out of this commonwealth, or forcibly seizes and confines or inveigles or kidnaps another person, with intent either to cause him to be secretly confined or imprisoned in this commonwealth against his will, or to cause him to be sent out of this commonwealth against his will or in any way held to service against his will.”
Hores was due in court for an arraignment set for Thursday, February 26, according to police.
The Northborough Police Department said the agency continues to investigate the alleged kidnapping.
In another alleged abduction case, a man was charged in the cold case kidnapping and killing of a 7-year-old Kentucky girl, whose remains were found in the woods in Tennessee in 1996, according to authorities, Luxury Handbag Shopping previously reported.
Robert Scott Froberg was charged with one count of kidnapping resulting in death in a federal criminal complaint filed February 26 in connection with the abduction of Morgan Violi, authorities announced.
