Sheriff: Rideshare driver arrested after kidnapping of mother and 4 sons

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — A 36-year-old rideshare driver has been arrested after police said he confined a 30-year-old woman and her four young sons in his vehicle after taking them to the wrong park.

The woman and her children were picked up just before 3 p.m. Sunday on Park East Boulevard, which is off South Street just west of the I-65 interchange for State Road 26 in Lafayette. She had booked an Uber to take them to the Tippecanoe County Amphitheater Park in West Lafayette. The amphitheater at 4449 State Road 43 was hosting a Sunday church festival, according to online information. The state road is also known to locals as North River Road.

Instead of going to the amphitheater, the driver, identified by police as Vernio Geneus, of Lafayette, took them to another nearby park, Tecumseh Trails Park, at 3800 N. River Road. Both parks are just over a mile southwest of the I-65 interchange for State Road 43 and North River Road.

A news release issued Monday night from the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office said, “The female questioned the driver and informed him they were not at the Tippecanoe County Amphitheater. The female became frightened and told the driver she wanted out of the vehicle. The driver stopped the vehicle as the female attempted to open a door, however, the driver locked all the doors.”

The woman then managed to get a back door to the vehicle unloaded and pushed her four boys and herself from the vehicle, and then called 911. She told the driver she was calling 911, and he left.

The release did not say what type of vehicle was involved. But the woman shared information on the vehicle and the driver with investigators, and he was found driving in Lafayette in a hotel parking lot near the interchange for I-65 and State Road 26 and South Street.

Online court record did not show a formal case filed for Geneus as of Monday night, but he preliminarily faced five high-level felony counts of kidnapping and five counts of criminal confinement. Geneus remained in the Tippecanoe County jail on Monday night.

Tippecanoe County Schools said Geneus was fired Monday from his job as a janitor at Battle Ground Elementary School, which is about a mile northeast of the I-65 interchange for State Road 43 and North River Road.

The Tippecanoe County incident comes days after a similar case happened with a Lyft driver in Indianapolis, involving a mother and her child.

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