Police Make Arrest In Attempted Kidnapping In Napa

NAPA, CA — The Napa Police Department tracked down and arrested a man accused of trying to kidnap a 16-year-old girl in July in Napa.

The victim reported she was walking through the Grap Yard Shopping Center in the 3200 block of Jefferson Street when a man in a pickup truck started following her and then approached her. He tried to get her phone number, and then grabbed her arms and pulled her like he was going to force her into his truck, the victim told police.

She fought the man off and was able to get a cell phone picture of him. The man was initially unknown and unidentified, but a detective later obtained surveillance video of the incident.

"Our NCRIC Crime Analyst was able to identify the vehicle's license plate from local license plate cameras," Napa police Sgt. Pete Piersig said. "Detectives looked for the vehicle but were not able to find it until the afternoon of 9/21."

That day, officers contacted the driver of the pickup truck in the South Napa Marketplace and detained him. The driver, 23-year-old Eduardo Guerra Rodriguez, appeared the be the man in the picture taken by the victim, Piersig said. He wore similar items and there were similar features on his truck.

Rodriguez did not have a driver's license and was brought to the police department for an interview. Once Rodriguez was positively identified as the man who had grabbed the victim and tried to pull her into his truck, he was arrested and booked into Napa County jail on suspicion of attempting kidnapping for molestation. He remained in custody this week with his bail set at $100,000.

In a strange turn of events, Piersig said the suspect in a similar case earlier this year took his own life before he was arrested. It turned out that the suspect in the first case and Rodriguez are brothers. The Police Department was still waiting for DNA evidence in the first case, and it did not appear Rodriguez was involved other than being a roommate, Piersig said.