On Monday, May 26, 2008 at 7:30 a.m., three male subjects armed with a handgun entered a fifth-wheel-style dwelling at the residential address of 18311 SE Foster Road, Damascus. At the time, the dwelling was occupied by a couple -- a male and a pregnant female.The three armed intruders kidnapped the male occupant. Meanwhile, the pregnant female occupant -- Amanda Frost, 23 -- hid in the rear of this fifth-wheel residence, text-messaging her mother about the ongoing armed encounter.
Frost's mother immediately notified the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's Office Patrol deputies arrived on-scene just minutes after the three armed suspects departed the residence with their kidnapped victim, identified as Ivan Acosta, 35.
Deputies broadcasted the suspect information and anticipated route of travel to local law enforcement. A short time later, all three suspects and the victim were located during a traffic stop by the Gresham Police Department.
No injuries were reported by the victim. The three suspects were apprehended by Gresham Police at the scene without incident.
A firearm -- believed to have been utilized during the commission of this series of crimes -- was also recovered and seized as evidence.
This traffic stop also resulted in the recovery of two stolen automobiles the suspects were using during the kidnapping. Since the arrest, authorities have learned the suspects were monitoring the police response on scanners, and abandoned the initial stolen vehicle brought to the victim's residence to conduct the kidnapping. While departing the scene en route to the Gresham area, monitoring police activity on the scanner, the suspects abandoned their primary vehicle and stole an additional automobile to help facilitate their escape with the kidnapped victim.
One vehicle of interest had been previously reported as stolen to the Portland Police Bureau.
This quick exchange of stolen vehicles was not sufficient to deter the attention of a keen-eyed Gresham Police officer who had been alerted to the kidnapping. The officer spotted a moving vehicle with the windows rolled down on a rain-soaked Monday morning, occupied by multiple subjects. The alert officer recognized this situation as peculiar, and initiated a traffic stop of this vehicle -- resulting in the arrest of the three kidnapping suspects.
The three apprehended suspects were transported by Clackamas County Deputies from the arrest location (1136 NE 181 St., Portland) and lodged in the Clackamas County Jail.
The suspects and charges are identified as: