DA declines to charge Tiburon man in alleged kidnapping of girlfriend

The Marin County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file criminal charges against an 18-year-old Tiburon man who was arrested in June on suspicion of kidnapping and robbing his 17-year-old girlfriend.

The man surrendered at the Tiburon police station with his attorney June 16 and was booked into Marin County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping, robbery, child cruelty and false imprisonment. He was released the same day. Because prosecutors filed no charges, The Ark is not naming him under a policy of generally not identifying suspects before they are formally charged.

Police said the case stemmed from an argument shortly after 2 a.m. June 15, while the couple sat in a parked car near Heathcliff Drive. The man then began driving, and the girl tried to get out, but he put the car in reverse and accelerated with her door still open, police said. She tried to call 911, and he took her phone. The car stopped on Avenida Miraflores, near Del Mar Middle School, where she got out.

The girl ran to a nearby home and knocked, but no one answered, police said. She then walked alone to the police station to report what happened.

In the meantime, the man had gone to her father’s home in Mill Valley to say the girl had fled the car, police said. He returned her phone to the father, and the two men drove back toward Avenida Miraflores to look for her. Her father called police to report her missing, and officers were treating it as a missing-juvenile case when they arrived.

Police said the allegations of force and restraint came from the girl’s account to officers at the station.

A cite hearing, or pre-arraignment appearance, had been scheduled for July 28. The district attorney’s office confirmed July 30 that it did not file a criminal complaint.

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