Man Indicted For Kidnapping Canton Mom, Child

CANTON, GA -- A Cherokee County grand jury has indicted a Hiram resident on charges he kidnapped a Canton woman and her child.

The grand jury this week indicted Mario Arcenio Perez-Perez, who was 24 at the time of his arrest, with two counts of kidnapping in connection to the April incident.

The incident unfolded Sunday, April 24 when a Canton police officer was dispatched around 4 a.m. to meet with counterpart with Cobb County police at RaceTrac on Bells Ferry Road near Interstate 575.

The Cobb officer told the Canton cop he had been dispatched earlier and met with the woman, who said she and her son were "forced into the suspect's vehicle in Canton near her residence," Canton police previously said.

The officer learned the woman and her son were initially driven by the suspect to QuikTrip near the RaceTrac when she was able to convince the man she had to use the restroom.

Once inside the store, the woman went into the restroom and stayed inside the facility until the store clerk made a welfare check on her.

The victim told the clerk what happened, and the clerk was able to hide the woman and her son behind the store's coolers until a friend was able to retrieve them.

The friend took the pair across the street to the RaceTrac convenience store where they called police. Through interviews and follow-up investigative work, a detective was able to track down Perez-Perez leaving a church in Marietta just after noon on Sunday.

Marietta police conducted a traffic stop, and were able to apprehend the suspect. Canton Police Chief Mark Mitchell previously told Patch that it appears the suspect and victim were "acquaintances" who knew each other from church.

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