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Man pleads guilty to impersonating police officer, kidnapping teen in Cleveland

Gavel
Posted at 10:15 PM, Jun 30, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-30 22:15:46-04

CLEVELAND — A Cleveland man accused of impersonating a police officer and kidnapping a 14-year-year old girl in 2019 pleaded guilty to three charges Wednesday, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.

Adam Rodriguez, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping, one count of impersonating of certain officers and one count of having weapons under disability.

On Dec. 16, 2019, a 14-year-old girl was walking home from school near West 87th Street and Madison Avenue when Rodriguez followed her for several blocks in his car, which was a decommissioned police vehicle.

Rodriguez then pulled up next to the girl, identified himself as a police officer and instructed her to get in the car. While he was driving her around, the girl noticed a gun on the floor of the car and asked where he was taking her before he threatened to kill her, authorities said.

The girl then opened the car door, jumped out and ran to a nearby residence where a good Samaritan got her home safely and called police.

Two days later, after detectives linked Rodriguez to the incident using surveillance video, he was arrested.

Rodriguez will be sentenced on Aug. 4 at 9 a.m. at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center.

RELATED: Cleveland man charged with kidnapping after impersonating police officer, luring 14-year-old girl inside car

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