MIAMI (WSVN) – A 24-year-old man has pleaded guilty kidnapping a rideshare driver at gunpoint and forcing the victim to drive from Texas to South Florida.
Miguel Alejandro Pastran Hernandez admitted to the August crime during a hearing on Tuesday.
According to court documents, the incident began on August 16 in Arlington, Texas, when Pastran Hernandez ordered a driver to take him to a gas station. Once there, he pulled out a gun, used a phone app to instruct the driver to avoid law enforcement and demanded they travel to Florida.
Prosecutors said Pastran Hernandez armed himself with a gun he found in the victim’s car, loaded it and used it to coerce the driver during the two-day trip.
Upon arriving in Miami Beach on August 18, Pastran Hernandez surveilled the home of a social media influencer, planning to kidnap them or a family member for a $3 million ransom, authorities said.
The next day, Pastran Hernandez forced the driver to stop at a store in Hialeah to purchase supplies for the planned kidnapping. When police arrived on the scene, he fled on foot but was apprehended hours later in a Hollywood park.
Officers found the victim’s loaded handgun in a shoulder bag and additional weapons and tools in Pastran Hernandez’s belongings.
Pastran Hernandez faces life in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping, carjacking and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.
He will be sentenced on February 20.
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