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Kidnapping 101: Don't Let Your Victim Live-Text Your Location

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on May 10, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Sometimes, it's OK to text while you drive. Like if you've just been kidnapped.

That's what recently happened in New Haven, Conn., after a woman was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to make ATM withdrawals around town.

Somehow, the kidnapper didn't notice the 26-year-old woman was texting their every move to her boyfriend, who then told the cops, the New Haven Register reports.

The woman had been driving home from her job at a local nightclub when the kidnapper waved her down. The woman thought the man needed help, until he pulled out a gun and demanded sexual favors.

The woman refused the kidnapper's sexual demands, but drove to several ATMs where she withdrew cash and then took the man to a nearby housing complex to buy drugs, the Register reports.

All the while, the woman sent text messages to her boyfriend. The first text simply read 'Help ...," but later texts included detailed location information.

The woman's boyfriend jumped into his car and began looking for his girlfriend. He also called police.

The boyfriend finally found his girlfriend's car about 7 a.m. Police arrived, and the kidnapped woman ran into her boyfriend's arms, the Register reports.

Cops found the alleged kidnapper, Albert Leclaire, 43, of East Haven, Conn., in the car with his pants and underwear around his ankles, police told the Register. Leclaire, who has 55 prior convictions, according to The Hartford Courant, allegedly admitted to smoking "too much crack."

Though his alleged victim may have violated Connecticut's texting-while-driving ban -- an infraction that comes with a $125 fine for a first offense -- it doesn't appear she's been cited for texting while kidnapped. Leclaire, however, faces a long list of charges including kidnapping, robbery, theft, assault, attempted sexual assault.

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