Local News in Brief : Woman Recants Story of Kidnaping Ordeal

A 26-year-old Los Angeles woman who on Sunday told police that she was threatened with rape and death while being held captive for two days in a Sepulveda apartment by 14 people recanted her story Tuesday, Los Angeles police said.

Because the woman changed her story, the district attorney’s office Tuesday declined to file kidnaping charges against a 17-year-old boy who lived in the apartment, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jerry Bowes said.

However, the youth was charged with one misdemeanor count of being present in a place where a controlled substance was used. Police found 21 grams of marijuana in the apartment, Detective Sherrie Santor said.

The woman, a receptionist who was not named by police, initially claimed that she was abducted by two men as she waited in her car at a traffic light Friday night in Van Nuys. She said she was taken to an apartment in the 15200 block of Rayen Street, where she said she was robbed and threatened until she escaped Sunday night while her captors were in another room, police said.

Police arrested three women, 10 men and the boy at the apartment Sunday night.

Santor said the woman changed her story Tuesday, saying she was not threatened but remained in the apartment because she feared the group. But several of the arrested people told police the woman was an acquaintance who had been at the apartment before, the detective said.

The 13 adults who were arrested are being held in Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of kidnaping until the case can be presented to the district attorney’s office today, Santor said. Bail for each is $11,000, Santor said.

If convicted, the teen-ager could be sentenced to six months in custody, Bowes said.