LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – An arrest report obtained by FOX5 is shedding light on the moment a 15-year-old was kidnapped by three suspects and held for ransom over the weekend.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department dispatchers received a 911 call on Saturday, May 25 reporting a kidnapping outside a 7-Eleven store on Russell Road in the southwest valley.
The individual reporting the incident identified the suspects as a female and two males who were “threatening juveniles with firearms” before they “took one of them and drove away.” Police would later identify the suspects as 45-year-old Stephen Smith, 32-year-old Christian Scarlett, and 31-year-old Savannah Schmitt.
Officers arriving at the scene would talk to one witness who also saw the suspects yelling at a group of teens. The witness said two vehicles were present at the scene, one flat black, four-door Infinity and one white Range Rover.
The witness told officers that the suspects were standing between the vehicles, yelling “get out of the car” and “going to kill you” at the teens inside the Infinity.
The witness’ mother eventually approached the suspects and said she was going to call the police, prompting one teen inside the vehicle to also ask her to call the police. The suspects told the mother to “mind her business,” according to the report, and began pointing a gun at the teen who spoke up.
Investigators say that one of the suspects told the teen to “get out of the car or he was going to kill him,” and forced the “visibly upset” teen into the Range Rover. The suspects then fled the scene in the vehicle.
The arrest report states that the parents of the kidnapped teen later received a call from the suspects demanding $4,000 in exchange for his safe return. The suspects provided the parents with an address, which the parents immediately reported to police.
The father of the suspect would also tell police that the kidnapping was related to the “possible theft of an electric bike” belonging to one of the suspects. He also revealed that his son had met with the suspect two days earlier “as they had been in the market for an E-bike,” the report noted.
An investigation would also reveal that the suspects were involved in an earlier kidnapping that also involved a juvenile and a white Range Rover.
Detectives arriving at the suspects’ residence would locate Scarlett outside the balcony and take him into custody. They would then call the other suspects out of the residence and arrest them as well. The teen was also located and reunited with his parents.
While in custody, Stephen Smith would tell police that the teen was initially interested in buying an E-bike from him, but would later decide not to purchase it. During a test ride of the bike, Smith claims that the teen “rode away with the bicycle.”
After following an Infinity that left the area at a high speed, believing it to be connected to the teen, the suspects found themselves at the 7/11 where the kidnapping took place.
The other two suspects also described the same events during separate interviews.
The teen would also confirm to police that he and his friends planned on stealing the bike.
Court records show that all three suspects are facing charges of kidnapping, extortion, and child abuse. The suspects are due in court on Wednesday, June 12.
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.
