At gunpoint, man forced rideshare app driver to travel from Arlington to Florida: FBI

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Last week, an armed passenger forced a person working for a ride-sharing app to drive from Arlington to South Florida, law enforcement said.

According to court documents, Miguel Pastran Hernandez was supposed to be dropped off Friday night at a gas station in North Texas, but upon arrival he insisted on changing his destination to a destination about 1,300 miles away.

According to an FBI special agent’s account in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami, Pastran Hernandez drew his gun and the driver heard the sound of a round being inserted into the chamber.

Pastran Hernandez threatened to tie up the driver and put him in the back seat of the car, authorities said. The victim pleaded with Pastran Hernandez to let her drive the car, the driver later told the special agent, so he could get away.

According to testimony, Pastran Hernandez ordered the victim to drive toward Florida and maintain the speed limit.

The driver felt obliged to follow the passenger’s instructions.

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They drove until 11 a.m. Saturday, when Pastran Hernandez demanded that the driver call his children and say that the driver had gone on a long business trip so that the children would not become suspicious of the driver’s absence.

Pastran Hernandez discovered the driver had an unloaded 9mm handgun in the car. The driver had ammunition stored separately in the car. The passenger took the handgun and ammunition.

Authorities said Pastran Hernandez ordered the victim to continue driving east toward Miami.

They arrived in Florida on Saturday evening.

According to the affidavit, Pastran Hernandez ordered the victim to drive to Miami Beach, where he watched from a distance the person he claimed he intended to kidnap and hold for a $3 million ransom.

On Monday, Pastran Hernandez ordered a driver to go to a Dollar General store in Hialeah, Florida, to buy supplies for a planned kidnapping, authorities said.

The driver hid in a store restroom. Pastran Hernandez either walked away or ran away. About three hours later, authorities found Pastrana Hernandez in Hollywood, Florida.

Pastran Hernandez admitted in an interview with a law enforcement officer that he kidnapped the driver at gunpoint, the special agent wrote in a statement.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday charged Pastrana Hernandez with kidnapping, carjacking with intent to cause death or great bodily harm and possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.