Man accused of kidnapping shopper
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

A 38-year-old El Campo man faces a felony kidnapping charge after allegedly attacking a woman last month as she headed home from a convenience store.

According to El Campo Police Sgt. Russell Urban, a woman in her late 40s was headed home just after sunset on Sunday, Feb. 17 from the L-Stop Foodmart at 411 N. Wharton when the incident occurred. Purse and groceries in hand, she was grabbed by the neck from behind by a man.

"He told her to go behind a storage building, or he would kill her," Urban said.

The woman went with the man, but convinced him to release her so she could put down her groceries and purse. Seeing an opportunity to flee, she then ran, but after a short distance got tangled in a barbed-wire fence.

She began to scream at that point, and the alleged attacker, Alexander Gonzales of 808 Hayden, reportedly chased her briefly, then ran back, grabbed her groceries and purse and fled.

The victim then ran the short distance to her home, Urban said.

The woman identified Gonzales as the man he believes attacked her, and on Saturday, March 8, an El Campo Police sergeant saw Gonzales walking down North Wharton Street and arrested him on warrants for aggravated kidnapping and public intoxication.

Urban said Gonzales "basically confessed" to robbing the woman, but denied threatening her life or any other intentions.

"He said his intentions were strictly that he wanted her beer and purse," Urban said. Gonzales has prior arrests for public intoxication, but not for violent crimes, Urban said.

The victim was "shook up and scared," but not physically harmed, he said.

Gonzales was held in Wharton County Jail on $50,000 bond and $312.75 in fines as of 12:30 p.m. Monday, March 10.