Suspect uses fork to kidnap man

A Laguna Niguel man was in jail Saturday after allegedly invading a man’s home and kidnapping him at the point of a barbecue fork, police said.

Craig Huddleston, 20, was booked on suspicion of robbery, residential burglary, carjacking and kidnapping late Friday.

Police said the victim was sleeping in his bedroom in the 24000 block of Sutton Lane when he awoke to find Huddleston peering at him from a hallway. After a brief scuffle, said Ryan Burris, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the victim was subdued by a puncture wound from a barbecue fork and forced to drive his pickup truck to a nearby ATM and withdraw money.

He was then taken to a Mobil gas station, Burris said, where the kidnapper demanded that he buy a bottle of water, pour it out and fill it with gasoline to be used for dowsing and igniting a car that Huddleston had allegedly stolen.

At that point, Burris said, Huddleston noticed a passing sheriff’s patrol car and fled in the truck, leaving the victim behind. A short distance away, he said, Huddleston hit a curb, was ejected from the vehicle and fled on foot. He was later apprehended by sheriff’s deputies.

Both men were treated for minor injuries, Burris said.

-- David Haldane