Man Arrested in Brief Abduction of Motorist

A quick-thinking Canoga Park woman escaped after briefly being abducted by a man who had jumped into her car late Friday as she waited for a signal change at an empty West San Fernando Valley intersection.

Los Angeles police said the man was later captured by officers.

Salvador Villegas, 21, of Canoga Park, identified by police as a “known gang member,” was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail Saturday at the West Valley police station.

About 11:30 p.m. at Vanowen Street and Winnetka Avenue, police said, a man forced his way into the passenger seat of the 27-year-old woman’s car after feigning that he had a gun.

“He held his hand under his shirt and told her to keep driving,” Lt. Ray Lombardo said.

“She did what she was told. She didn’t know what this guy had in mind, whether it was rape, robbery, or what.”

At one point, Lombardo said, the man tried to pull the woman’s wedding ring from her finger but was unsuccessful.

After driving for about 10 minutes, the man ordered the woman to pull into the back of a building near Roscoe Boulevard and De Soto Avenue.

“But by this time,” Lombardo said, “she realized that he didn’t have a gun after all.”

Instead of driving behind the building, the woman stopped in the front parking lot of the business, jumped out of the car and summoned help from a man walking nearby.

The man then tried to drive away in the woman’s car but instead hit a vehicle parked nearby, police said. He then jumped out of the car and fled.

Police captured the suspect a short time later behind nearby apartment buildings.