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Written by IVN
Los Angeles, California - A New York man is scheduled to be in federal court after being arrested Monday on a kidnapping charge stemming from his alleged abduction of a 68-year-old woman with dementia at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Johnny Ray Gasca, 51, of Bronx, New York, was charged in a federal criminal complaint filed with one count of kidnapping, an offense that carries a statutory maximum penalty of life in federal prison.
The FBI arrested Gasca on Monday afternoon outside a Hollywood motel. The victim was rescued at the same time.
According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the victim was kidnapped at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Monday after attempting to obtain a medical appointment at the VA facility. The victim was accompanied by a long-time friend, and as the two of them “approached their car, Gasca appeared unexpectedly,” the affidavit states. “Gasca put his arms around [the victim] and pushed her toward a gold-colored pickup truck that was parked nearby. Gasca then picked [the victim] up and threw her into the rear portion of the truck’s passenger compartment.”