Berkeley Kidnapping Motive Revealed

BERKELEY, CA — Five South Carolina men were charged Wednesday with kidnapping and second-degree robbery for allegedly abducting a 21-year-old man during a botched marijuana deal at a Berkeley motel on Saturday night and threatening to kill him unless they were paid $30,000 in ransom money.

The five men were arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court and are scheduled to return to court to be assigned attorneys and possibly enter pleas.

Authorities have identified the five South Carolina men as Jamikaco Tyrone Thompson, 27, of Greenville, Vacenta Rakey Rice, 27, of Fountain Inn, Antravious Marquis Evans, 19, of Fountain Inn, Racal Jamikaco
Thompson, 24, of Greenville, and Rodquavious Mikeon Whitehurst, 20, of Greenville.

Berkeley police Sgt. Frank Landrum wrote in a probable cause statement that the victim admitted that a friend had dropped him off at the Knights Inn Motel at 1512 University Ave. at Sacramento Street at about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and his plan was to sell one pound of marijuana to a buyer named "Chris" for $1,700.

At about 7:15 p.m. on Saturday the victim met "Chris," who later was identified as Racal Thompson, in the motel's driveway and Thompson walked the victim into a room where the other four suspects were waiting, according to Landrum.

The victim, who told police he feared that he would be killed, said Evans pointed a rifle at him and he was pushed onto the bed, had his hands tied together with rope and tape and was punched numerous times,
Landrum wrote.

The victim said the suspects told him that they expected him to have more money than the amount he brought and demanded $30,000 in cash before he could be released, according to Landrum.

The suspects then put a blanket-like cloth over the victim's head, placed him in a rented 2009 Toyota Highlander with Florida license plates and drove off, Landrum said.

Berkeley patrol officers were able to get the cellphone number of one of the suspects and determined that the phone was in Patterson in Stanislaus County, about 68 miles from Berkeley, Landrum wrote.

Berkeley police contacted Patterson police and around midnight on Saturday they were able to arrest the suspects and rescue the victim, according to Landrum.

An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was found in the rental car's spare tire well along with a loaded magazine, Landrum said.

The victim had a swollen eye and other visible injuries to his face, police said.

Racal Thompson "admitted to many aspects of the crime" and said he and the other suspects decided to kidnap the victim when the drug deal didn;t go down as planned. Thompson also admitted to owning the AR-15 rifle, he said.

Whitehurst admitted that when he found out that the victim couldn't swim he threatened the man by saying he would drown him in the ocean, although Whitehurst said he didn't intend to carry out that threat, according to Landrum.

All five men are charged with kidnapping and second-degree robbery, and Evans and Racal Thompson are also charged with possession of an assault weapon.

Prosecutors say Racal Thompson was convicted on April 4 of a felony count of being an habitual traffic offender in South Carolina and Rice has previously been convicted of a felony count of manufacturing and
possessing a scheduled substance in South Carolina.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock