Police: Woman escapes after being kidnapped from Orlando, driven to Sarasota to be sexually assaulted

ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) — A woman was kidnapped from her Orlando apartment complex parking garage over the weekend and then driven hours away by her kidnapper before she escaped, police said.

According to an arrest report, Michael Lucas was charged with kidnapping, sexual battery, carjacking and false imprisonment.

Police said the victim was grabbing some things out of the backseat of her Mercedes-Benz in the parking lot of the Aqua at Millenia Apartments at about 7 p.m. Sunday when a man grabbed her from behind and told her that he’d shoot her if she yelled.

“If you scream, I have a gun and I will shoot you,” the man yelled, according to the arrest report.

According to the report, the woman said she was forced into her own car by the man. He took off driving while she was ordered to keep her head between her legs and sit in the passenger seat.

The victim told police she eventually figured out they were nearing Sarasota based off a cellphone conversation the man had in the car. In Sarasota, the woman said the man stopped at a business where she was able to partially see a sign that said “dreads,” the report said.

After stopping at the business, the woman said she was driven to an apartment and sexually battered.

She told police she overheard another cellphone conversation in which the person on the other end of the phone was calling her kidnapper by the name Mike.

While they were in Sarasota, the man then ordered the woman to get into the driver’s seat and take them both back to Orlando.

As they were approaching Orlando, the victim said her kidnapper had fallen asleep in the passenger seat of the car. She said she ran red lights because she feared that stopping would wake him up.

She didn’t stop until she got to 7-Eleven at International Drive and Destination Parkway. She ran into the store, hid behind the counter and called 911 as she told a store employee to lock the doors, police said.

The store employee said the kidnapper started banging on the store doors while holding up the victims purse, but eventually ran off.

Moments later, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate a report of a suspicious person at Lockheed Martin.

The man deputies found was Michael Lucas, who investigators said matched the description of the kidnapper.

Investigators said Lucas was on probation in Sarasota and his probation officer told investigators he was not supposed to leave the county.