Miguel Alejandro Pastran Hernandez, 24, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for kidnapping a ride-share driver at gunpoint and forcing him to drive over 1,300 miles from Texas to South Florida to kidnap a social media influencer. After ordering a ride in Texas on August 16, 2022, he threatened the driver with a firearm. During the journey, Pastran Hernandez discovered the driver’s concealed handgun and used it to intimidate him. Upon reaching Miami Beach, he attempted to kidnap the influencer for a $3 million ransom. Authorities arrested him after he fled a Dollar General store with additional weapons and supplies.
A man who held a rideshare driver at gunpoint last year and forced the victim to travel over 1,300 miles from Texas to South Florida in a plot to kidnap a social media influencer was sentenced on Thursday to 12 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
The individual, Miguel Alejandro Pastran Hernandez, 24, pleaded guilty in December to charges including kidnapping, carjacking, and possession of a firearm to commit a violent crime, as noted in a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of Florida.
Federal prosecutors reported that Mr. Pastran Hernandez ordered a ride around 10:30 p.m. on August 16 near Arlington, Texas. Once the driver arrived at the location specified by the app, the driver, identified in court documents as Victim 1, heard the sound of a gun being loaded and saw Mr. Pastran Hernandez brandishing what appeared to be a firearm.
Initially, Mr. Pastran Hernandez threatened to bind the driver and confine him in the trunk, but the driver pleaded to be allowed to drive the car, according to an affidavit prepared by an F.B.I. agent.
Mr. Pastran Hernandez consented, demanding that the driver take him to Florida and claiming he had additional firearms in his luggage, prosecutors stated. During their journey, it was reported that Mr. Pastran Hernandez found a blue handgun belonging to the driver in the vehicle. He loaded it and used it to threaten the driver throughout the trip.
While traveling through Louisiana, Mr. Pastran Hernandez instructed the driver to call his children and explain that he was on an extended work trip, to prevent them from becoming suspicious.
By the evening of August 17, the duo reached Miami Beach, approximately 1,300 miles away from Arlington, Texas. The following day, prosecutors indicated that Mr. Pastran Hernandez directed the driver to a residence where he claimed a social media influencer lived, expressing his intention to kidnap either the influencer or a family member for a ransom of $3 million.
On August 19, according to prosecutors, Mr. Pastran Hernandez instructed the driver to take him to a Dollar General in Hialeah, Florida, where he intended to purchase supplies for the kidnapping. Shortly thereafter, police arrived on the scene, prompting Mr. Pastran Hernandez to flee the store. He was apprehended hours later in a park, still in possession of the blue handgun he took from the driver, according to authorities.
Investigators also discovered several BB guns, knives, a black mask, hat, sunglasses, binoculars, walkie-talkies, and zip ties in Mr. Pastran Hernandez’s backpack.
A lawyer for Mr. Pastran Hernandez did not respond promptly to a request for comment on Thursday.