Tiburon teen booked on kidnap, robbery after fight with girlfriend

An 18-year-old Tiburon man was arrested last week on suspicion of kidnapping, robbery, child cruelty and false imprisonment after an argument with his 17-year-old girlfriend, police said.

The man surrendered at the station with his attorney just before 7 p.m. June 16 and was booked into Marin County Jail, according to a Tiburon police media statement. Jail records show he is no longer in custody. Police said the case has been forwarded to the Marin County District Attorney’s Office for review. Officials there did not immediately respond on the case’s status by The Ark’s press deadline, and no case information was available through online court records.

By policy, The Ark generally does not name suspects before they have been formally charged.

Police said the incident began shortly after 2 a.m. June 15, when the couple argued in a parked car near Heathcliff and Lyford Drives. When the girl tried to get out, he put the car in reverse and accelerated while her door was still open, preventing her from leaving, police said. She tried to call 911, but he took her phone, according to police. The car stopped on Avenida Miraflores, near Del Mar Middle School, about 2½ miles away, where she got out.

The girl ran to a nearby home and knocked, but no one answered, according to Detective Sgt. Rob Law. She then walked alone to the Tiburon Police Department, about a mile away, to report what happened.

Officers were first sent to Avenida Miraflores about 2:20 a.m., after the girl’s father called to report her missing, Law said. The man had gone to the father’s home in Mill Valley to say the girl had fled the vehicle, and the two then drove to Avenida Miraflores to look for her.

Officers arrived at 2:24 a.m. and contacted the father and the man, police said. By then, the girl’s phone had been returned to the father. The man told officers the incident was verbal, and because the girl had not yet been found or interviewed, he was not detained, police said.

At 2:30 a.m., while officers were still on Avenida Miraflores, they learned the girl had reached the police station on foot. Officers returned with the father to interview her. They asked the man to meet them at the station, but he never arrived, Law said. Over the next several hours, officers tried to reach him by phone and at his home before coordinating his surrender.

He was served with an emergency protective order barring him from contacting the girl and ordering him to stay at least 100 yards away, police said.

The felony child-cruelty count alleges willful cruelty likely to produce great bodily harm or death. Kidnapping and robbery are also felonies. False imprisonment can be charged as a felony only if prosecutors allege force or menace.