While many believe that social media is a useless, time-wasting experience—it can definitely be used for good. That’s exactly what happened to a Northern California teen girl who was kidnapped by three men and used Snapchat to alert her friends of her whereabouts.
@CBS46 reports, A 14-year-old girl (whose identity has been kept anonymous because she’s a minor) was kidnapped and decided to use the popular social media app Snapchat to share her location with her friends, who then promptly called police. The young girl reportedly met Albert Thomas Vasquez, 55, in Capitola, California on January 14th, he then gave her drugs leading to her becoming incapacitated.
When she regained consciousness in the hotel, the girl used the Snapchat app on her phone to tell her friends that she had been kidnapped, but didn’t know where she was, police said. Luckily, her friends determined her location through the app and called 911.
Prior to her calling 911, there were disturbing details about what allegedly happened. Apparently, her captor, Vasquez, reportedly called two other men—34-year-old Antonio Quirino Salvador and 31-year-old Hediberto Gonzalez Avarenga—to move the girl into a waiting vehicle. Vasquez then proceeded to sexually assault the girl in the vehicle, according to San Jose Police. The men drove the girl to a motel in San Jose, carried her to a room on the second floor while Vasquez sexually assaulted her again. That’s when she used Snapchat to alert her friends, who then alerted police as we previously mentioned.
Once local police arrived, Vasquez was leaving the motel room with the girl still inside. He was promptly arrested on charges of kidnapping to commit rape, digital penetration with a child under 14 with force, false imprisonment, lewd act with a child and rape by intoxication or controlled substance.
The two other men also were arrested the following day on charges of kidnapping and conspiracy.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
