San Clemente : Camp Escapee Arrested After Alleged Kidnaping
An escapee from a minimum security prison camp, who allegedly kidnaped and raped a 19-year-old woman who had visited him several times, was arrested Thursday at a San Clemente motel after the woman fled.
Eduardo Verdugo Armendariz, 31, was booked on suspicion of kidnaping and rape, San Clemente Police Lt. Albert Ehlow said. Armendariz walked away from the Prado Conservation Camp in Chino on Nov. 28.
The woman told police that Armendariz had kidnaped her Wednesday morning outside her job in Los Angeles and forced her into a car driven by a blond woman. The driver took them to the motel in the 700 block of South El Camino Real, registered for Armendariz and then left, police said. She was described as 5 foot 3, weighing 130 pounds and as wearing blue jeans and a rainbow pullover sweater.
The victim escaped at about 6 a.m after her attacker injected himself with a drug and fell asleep, police said. Police surrounded the motel and arrested Armendariz, who surrendered without a struggle.
Armendariz had been serving a six-year-term for armed robbery and would have been eligible for parole in August, a prison spokesman said.
Police said the victim had met him through a friend and had visited him and written to him several times in prison since July, 1985.
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