WILMINGTON : Man Sought in Third Kidnaping of Ex-Girlfriend

A 23-year-old Compton man has kidnaped his ex-girlfriend, a Wilmington teen-ager, for the third time since she broke up with him in mid-May, police said Friday.

Police are searching for Sergio Ixta, who they say kidnaped 17-year-old Gina Hernandez from her parents’ Wilmington home at gunpoint Tuesday.

Hernandez was baby-sitting at the time, and Ixta allowed her to return the child to its mother before abducting her, police said. Lt. Alan B. Kerstein of the LAPD Harbor Division said Ixta first kidnaped Hernandez in mid-May and held her for six weeks before she escaped and returned home.

Police began searching for Ixta immediately, but he allegedly kidnaped Hernandez a second time on July 8 before they could find him, Kerstein said. Herandez escaped three days later, only to be kidnaped again on Tuesday, police said. “This is an obsession. . . . It evolved from a relationship which, when it became abusive, she decided to terminate, and he just couldn’t accept that,” Kerstein said.

Ixta is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and about 130 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes, Kerstein said. He was last seen was driving a white 1982 Cadillac Eldorado with California license plate 3DAC379. Anyone with information is asked to call police at (310) 548-7602 or (310) 548-7621.