THIBODAUX, La. — Officers didn't have to go far to arrest a suspect accused of attacking and kidnapping a woman Friday morning after she walked into the Thibodaux Police Department lobby to report the crimes.
In fact, she said, the perpetrator was waiting for them out in the car.
Just after 9:15 a.m., the victim told officers she drove directly to the Thibodaux Police Department with the man who had just attacked, kidnapped, held her at gunpoint, and forced her to withdraw hundreds of dollars from a bank, police said.
The woman said the man was a "personal friend," according to police.
When they realized the victim was saying that the man she'd accused had been left in her car in the police station's parking lot, TPD officers searched the victim's car.
By that point, 25-year-old Thibodaux resident Kendall Franklin had already run away.
Franklin's description was shared with other officers, and he was seen less than a mile away from the police station, near Plantation Road and Oakley Street.
Police officers saw Franklin trying to get rid of the gun he allegedly used to kidnap the woman, but they quickly recovered the weapon and the $800 he'd taken from the victim, a statement from police said.
Investigators said Franklin and the victim fought each other at an apartment complex outside of Thibodaux city limits.
After the fight, Franklin allegedly forced the victim at gunpoint to drive to her bank, which was within city limits, to withdraw the cash.
The victim drove directly to the police station from the bank because she was afraid for her life, police said.
TPD officers worked with Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office deputies during the subsequent investigation because the apartment where she was initially attacked was outside the police department's jurisdiction.
In addition to charges of armed robbery while using a firearm and aggravated kidnapping, Franklin faces a charge of battery of a dating partner with strangulation.
Franklin was booked and taken to Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex on a $600,000 bond. All charges against Franklin are felonies.
