Ill-Advised Plan: Kidnap Girlfriend, Try to Marry Her

This alleged scheme involved a 1K-mile drive to Las Vegas, too
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2013 11:12 AM CST
Man Allegedly Kidnapped Girlfriend to Marry Her
We're guessing one of these was not involved.   (©)

A Washington man apparently looking for a lifetime of wedded bliss could end up with five years in prison instead. Thomas Martin Pfeiffer, 22, was arrested early Friday and hit with a slew of charges, chief among them kidnapping. Police say he allegedly kidnapped his girlfriend on Thursday night and, with their 22-month-old daughter in tow, set off on a 1,000-mile drive to Las Vegas to get married, reports the Baker City Herald.

Virginia Valdez, 23, was apparently not eager to be a bride, and told police that when they stopped for gas Friday morning in Baker City, Ore., she felt there were enough people around to stage her own rescue. Baker City's police chief says Valdez lay on the ground near the gas pumps and started screaming; the police were called. Pfeiffer also faces charges of menacing, coercion, fourth-degree assault, harassment, and unlawful use of a weapon, but the kidnapping charge alone carries a sentence of five years and 10 months in Oregon. (More strange stuff stories.)

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