A 14-year-old San Francisco boy told police he was kidnapped from the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for several hours Wednesday night by four men in a van, then robbed and dropped off unharmed in Oakland, police said today.
According to police, the boy said he had just gotten a drink on Haight Street at about 6:15 p.m. when a white van pulled up to him at Masonic Avenue and Waller Street, and men pulled him inside and took off.
The boy said he was tied up and a bag was placed over his head, then he was driven around for about 45 minutes, according to police. The suspects then reportedly stopped, took the boy’s money, cell phone and shoes, and then continued driving to another location.
The boy said he was finally pushed out of the van at an unknown location in Oakland, where he wandered around for about 90 minutes until someone let him borrow a cell phone and he called his father, police said.
The boy’s father picked him up at 15th and Jefferson streets in downtown Oakland, and safely returned him home, according to police.
According to police spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield, the boy said the entire episode lasted about six hours, but that he would not be able to recognize any of the suspects if he saw them.
Officers noted in a police report that the boy was very calm during an interview with police, though some of his responses “were very delayed and unclear at points,” Dangerfield said.
No arrests were made, and an investigation is ongoing.
Ari Burack, Bay City News
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