Lawyer for California Kidnap Suspect Refutes Charges

The lawyer of the 41-year-old Isidro Garcia, who is charged with multiple counts of kidnapping and abuse, says the victim’s story is false. “He was devoted to her. He did what she wanted. She was happy. She had her own car. She had her own job,” Charles Frisco, Jr. told reporters on Thursday.

Garcia is being held at the Orange County jail in Santa Ana, California on $1 bail and has been charged with five felonies, including committing lewd acts with a minor, kidnapping for rape, and false imprisonment. He has not entered a plea.

Earlier this week, Garcia’s alleged prisoner of ten years called police and told them that Garcia kidnapped her back in 2004 when she was 15 and had held her against her will ever since then. The woman, whose name has not been released, contends that Garcia sexually assaulted and forced her to marry him. They had a child together in 2012.

Garcia’s lawyer says the ordeal stems from a bitter break up, though authorities adamantly back the woman saying she was a kidnapping victim.

The case strikes a particular cord with the public as year ago to the month, three women in Cleveland were freed from their kidnapper, Ariel Castro, who later hung himself in prison.