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Police: Miami Man Arrested In Tampa Is Part Of Kidnap Plan

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 20, 2008

TAMPA - A Miami man is being held in a Hillsborough County jail on charges that he kidnapped a businessman for at least $100,000, then fled to Tampa.

Detective Carl Zogby of the Hialeah police said Jose R. Gil-Rodriguez, 41, is the 10th person arrested in a kidnapping scheme that investigators say terrorized two businessmen in that city this month. The kidnappers tied up the businessmen, beat them for hours and threatened them with a knife and a drill, police said.

The remaining person at large, Yoanky Gonzalez, 27, of Miami, is not thought to be in the Tampa area, Zogby said.

Tampa police, acting on a tip, arrested Gil-Rodriguez on Wednesday at an apartment at 3415 W. Hillsborough Ave. Zogby said an acquaintance of Gil-Rodriguez lives there.

Gil-Rodriguez is being held on warrants charging him with felony armed kidnapping and felony armed robbery, jail records show.
Zogby did not identify the kidnapping victims because the investigation is continuing, but provided these details:

A business associate of both victims learned they had come into a large amount of cash recently and contacted an acquaintance, Lazaro Vega, 44, of Miami.

Vega is now in custody.

Vega gathered nine men and devised a plan to kidnap each businessman. One was abducted June 9 and the other June 10. Each was forced into a vehicle at a shopping plaza at gunpoint. In one instance, the gunmen claimed to be police.

"They were beaten and threatened with death," Zogby said.

Each man was released after several hours, one in Miami and another in South Dade. They were released under the agreement they would provide their abductors with money.

Neither man suffered serious injury, Zogby said.

A girlfriend of one of the accused kidnappers was charged as an accessory after the fact, police said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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