14-Year-Old Girl Rescued After Using Snapchat to Alert Friends of Kidnapping

Police say a 14-year-old girl used Snapchat to alert her friends of her kidnapping.

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Stock image of a woman using her phone outside at night.

Three men have been arrested and charged for their connection to the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl earlier this week, East Bay Times reports. According to a police spokesman, the girl was able to put an end to the horrific ordeal by telling her friends what was going on through Snapchat.

San Jose police Sgt. Enrique Garcia says that the victim was unaware of where she was, but that her friends used the app to identify her location at a local motel. They then called 911.

Officers arrived on the scene at about 11:10 a.m. on Tuesday, and it was there that they made contact with 55-year-old Albert Thomas Vasquez as he left a room on the second floor. The victim was reportedly found in that room. 

As a result, Vasquez was arrested and booked on several felony charges, including: kidnapping to commit rape, digital penetration of a child under 14 years with force, false imprisonment, lewd act with a child 14 or 15 years with force and rape by intoxication or controlled substance.

As of Thursday, he was being held without bail.

An ensuing investigation revealed that Vasquez and the victim had met in the city of Capitola, which lies roughly 35 miles south of San Jose, earlier on Tuesday. He allegedly gave her drugs. The victim became incapacitated, which is when Vasquez reached out to two other men, 34-year-old Antonio Salvador and 31-year-old Hediberto Avarenga, for assistance. 

Those two allegedly forced the 14-year-old into a vehicle where she was sexually assaulted by Vasquez. 

The three men then drove her to San Jose and carried her to a room at the motel where the eventual arrest took place. It was there that Vasquez reportedly sexually assaulted her again.

As a result of their alleged role in the crime(s), Salvador and Avarenga were arrested on Wednesday. They were booked for charges of kidnapping and conspiracy. 

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