Ryan A. Benjamin, 38, of Owego, has been charged by Elmira Police with attempted kidnapping, a felony, of a 14-year old girl near a Rite-Aid in Elmira. Police arrested Benjamin on Wednesday after investigating an incident that was reported Tuesday night on the Elmira department’s “tip line.”
The girl told police a vehicle followed her on the 200 block of Mt. Zoar Street in Elmira and the driver attempted to get her into the vehicle and made threats to hurt her before she went into the drug store. The man waited in the parking lot and eventually left the area. Police had surveillance video.
Read the two news releases from Elmira police, who were assisted by the Owego Police Department, the Tioga County Sheriff’s Office and Ithaca City Police Department, who located Benjamin’s vehicle off Elmira Road in Ithaca. He was returned to Elmira and sent to the Chemung County jail.
