41-year-old Gabriel Carreon is being charged with kidnapping, battery, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and on an Adult Probation and Parole Office warrant for a probation violation, and 41-year-old Tony Crowson was arrested on an Adult Probation and Parole Office warrant for a probation violation.
Deming Police Detective Matt Rudiger said the ordeal began when the two men asked a 42-year-old Las Cruces woman who was an acquaintance of Carreon’s for a ride to Deming from Las Cruces Sunday afternoon.
The woman, who was initially under the impression that Carreon and Crowson had successfully completed their time at the treatment center, drove the men to a residence off Chartley Way. Sometime during the trip, however, she overheard them talking about walking away from the center, and was hit in the face and stomach by Carreon when she questioned him about it.
Rudiger said Carreon then forced the woman into the back seat of her 1999 Hyundai and drove around Deming. The woman escaped at just before 7 p.m. Sunday while the car was stopped in traffic, ran to K-Mart for help, and reported the incident to store personnel and then the police.
Rudiger said alert patrol officers spotted the car at about 1 a.m. Tuesday with Carreon and Crowson inside, and the two were arrested.