LA HABRA : Alert Officer Makes Collar in Kidnaping

A police officer on routine patrol spotted a kidnaping and robbery suspect in traffic Friday morning and made an arrest less than two hours after taking a report on the crime from the shaken victim.

Officer Carol Mona, who has been a member of the force for one year, was driving her squad car on Harbor Boulevard near Imperial Highway just after 11 a.m. when a Toyota van pulled in front of her.

When she looked up, she realized that the vehicle matched the description of a vehicle that had been used in a robbery and kidnaping, said La Habra Police Sgt. Matt Stoner.

Less than two hours earlier, the victim, 22-year-old Frank Ramirez, had walked into the La Habra Police Department and told police that a man and a woman had kidnaped him.

They held him at knifepoint for half an hour and stole $80 from him before finally letting him go, Ramirez told Mona, who took the report.

Ramirez, a resident of La Habra, had told police that he was abducted by the pair at the corner of California Street and La Habra Boulevard at 8:20 a.m.

While the van was stopped at the intersection, a male passenger called him over, stuck a knife to his throat and said “get in,” recounted Ramirez, who was not injured in the assault.

After spotting the vehicle, Mona arrested the 24-year-old female driver on charges of suspicion of robbery and kidnaping.

A male passenger was detained by police but released after it was determined that he was not involved in the crime.

The suspect, Armaghan E. Pirhadi of La Habra, was being held in City Jail on $250,000 bail, police said.

Police are still seeking the man who they say held the knife during the kidnaping, Stoner said.