Woman Abducted From Apartment’s Garage

A Van Nuys woman who was posting Neighborhood Watch flyers in the underground parking garage of her apartment building was forced into a car with three suspected gang members, abducted and sexually assaulted before being released, Los Angeles police said.

The 26-year-old woman was driven around the Valley for about seven hours before she was let go, said Detective Mel Arnold.

The woman and her husband live across from the Van Nuys police station on Sylvan Street, Arnold said. He said the kidnaping did not seem related to the posting of the flyers. But it may have been in retaliation for her husband’s role as a witness in a neighborhood incident that led to some gang members’ arrest, he said.