On late Monday night Spokane Police say three people dragged a woman across a North Spokane Motel 6 parking lot and into a wooded area, where they beat her and forced her to call 911 to say her own kidnapping had been a false report.
Court documents say the incident started several days earlier when several of those suspects were victims themselves. Police believe that they sent a woman to buy narcotic pills with a large amount of money. That woman never showed back up, and so the suspects started a city-wide search for her.
They couldn't find her, so they started targeting her friends, including one that just rented a room at Motel 6.
They arrived to the Motel 6 Monday night and found the woman in her car. The woman told police that the suspected ringleader, Cory Charles, started yelling "I'm sorry but everyone's going to get shot tonight! I'm going to put holes in everybody." The victim says she was yanked out of her car, and thrown into their car, and then driven to a wooded area in North Spokane.
They told her that she was collateral until they were paid the money they owed. Then, they learned that the Motel 6 manager had called 911, and police had just arrested two of their accomplices in the Motel 6 parking lot. Court docs say they forced the victim to call 911 and claim her kidnapping was a false report. The victim says she made the call, but was afraid.
The suspects eventually got the victim back into the car, and went to where they thought the woman who stole their money was, but it turned out to be the Spokane Police. All five suspects were ultimately arrested and the victim was safely returned home.
Cory Charles, and the other four suspects, remain in the Spokane County Jail on a kidnapping charge. They are being held on $150,000 bond.
(story: Luke Thoburn, KHQ News Producer, KHQ.com; photo: KHQ.com)