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Deputies: Husband faked kidnapping

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

jpoltilove@tampatrib.com

Published: August 28, 2009

TAMPA - I got stuck at work.

My car broke down.

I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail.

And now, what might be the latest entry in the cheating husbands' book of lies: I've been kidnapped.

That ruse didn't pan out for Wikler Moran-Mora, deputies say.

Moran-Mora texted his wife in the wee hours Wednesday to say he had been abducted and was being held for ransom. His worried wife called for help.

He texted again, saying, "Don't call, take it easy, they said they will let me go," and "Everything is alright, I'll be home soon," the sheriff's office said.

Twenty deputies, including canine units, spent hours searching for Moran-Mora, eventually tracing his cell phone to a 7-Eleven on Waters Avenue. He was arrested there after deputies determined he faked his kidnapping so he could cheat on his wife.

The search cost an estimated $4,000.

Moran-Mora, 38, who told deputies he is an elder for a Seventh-day Adventist church on Nebraska Avenue, was released on $500 bail.

"We are fine now," he said Thursday. "It was a mistake, and everything is solved between us."

News Channel 8 reporters Chip Osowski and Katie Coronado contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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