PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Two Pierce County men, ages 22 and 30, are facing multiple charges in connection with the kidnapping of a Tacoma woman.
Ottahyo William Caldwell and Milo Junior Tinifu are facing charges such as first-degree kidnapping, assault, and several others.
On Wednesday at 10:14 p.m., officers were called to Zips Cannabis, located in the 3200 block of South 38th Street, by a woman who reported being kidnapped.
When officers arrived, they spoke with the kidnapping victim, who said she had been held captive in a trailer for up to seven days and driven around, according to court documents.
The victim told police the suspects were both members of a street gang, one of which was her ex-boyfriend, the charging document stated.
The woman told officers she escaped from the car where she was being held captive and ran to the nearby cannabis store to seek help.
According to police, the woman said she was told to “sell a power drill to the street people,” but once released with the drill and out of sight, she dropped it and ran to the cannabis shop where she asked for help, telling employees she had been kidnapped.
An employee at the cannabis shop called 911 and then passed the phone to the woman who said she had been kidnapped, police said.
According to charging documents, the woman said the suspects had beaten her several times, as she had shown officers “freshly dried blood on her sweatshirt” and her knees. She also told police her hands had been bound, as officers observed fresh red marks, similar to ligature marks she showed them.
The officers also saw fresh abrasions with open wounds to the woman’s knees, including bruises on her arms, charging documents state.
Police said the woman told them Tinifu had beaten her at one point where she had “curled up into a ball on the ground.” She also reported being kicked and punched several times in her head, saying she could feel knots and swelling, resulting in soreness.
The woman told police she had lost consciousness during one of the beatings, which she believed occurred inside the trailer.
When asked had she been sexually assaulted, the woman told police no but believed she was going to be trafficked, believing she was going to perform sex acts for money or “dates,” court records state.
The woman told police while being held captive, she was threatened with a gun by Tinifu. She said he told her if she did not do what he said, he would kill her and her whole family, charging documents state.
Court records stated the woman was eventually taken to the hospital to be evaluated and treated, and during that time, police said she mentioned how she barely slept or had eaten or drank anything for several days as she was forced to smoke fentanyl pills.
The woman told police “she had been clean and sober for nine months, but was now forced to smoke up to 15 fentanyl pills from foil, to stay ‘doped up.’”
On Thursday at 12:50 a.m., police spotted the men in a car the victim had described to them in the 5600 block of South Tacoma Way.
Officers tried to pull the car over, but the driver did not stop.
However, officers were able to conduct a PIT maneuver in the 6400 block of Tacoma Mall Boulevard, causing the car to rotate, strike a curb, and hit a small tree, resulting in it coming to a stop.
Both men got out of the car and ran but were eventually arrested and booked into jail.
One officer said he saw Tinifu remove a black pistol from his waistband and throw it into some nearby bushes. It was recovered.
Tinifu, 30, is being charged with second-degree assault, two counts of first-degree kidnapping, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, unlawful possession of a firearm, and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
Caldwell, 22, is being charged with second-degree assault, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and two counts of first-degree kidnapping.