A Tennessee man was charged with kidnapping and armed robbery after police found him allegedly assaulting a woman at a carwash in Compton, Calif. (He and the woman were identified by the Daily Breeze as Jenna Lykins and Michael Dale, respectively.)
Carl Kent came to California after attempting to sell a storage unit in Kentucky, where he ran into a lot of trouble, according to the Daily Breeze. Kent went to the storage unit in March, but the lot was in contempt of court for not paying the rent, and he had been evicted a couple of weeks before.
Kent, who was not supposed to be in California, but who was staying at a hotel near the storage unit, was discovered about 2 a.m. by law enforcement after he assaulted a woman at a carwash. Three other men allegedly joined in to help him assault the woman, who apparently didn’t resist. When authorities found the woman at the carwash, she was “cooperative,” according to the Daily Breeze.
Prosecutors said Kent would have been entitled to be returned to Kentucky. “Our country’s commitment to protect its citizens is the standard for every state in the union, and the laws are not honored when they are abused,” a prosecutor told the Daily Breeze. “It doesn’t matter where a crime was committed. It matters where that crime is enforced.”
To get himself out of trouble in California, Kent was charged with 10 felony counts, including kidnapping, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and violating a restraining order. His bail was set at $3 million. The Daily Breeze quoted from his arraignment transcript in which Kent admitted to carrying out the crimes.
“I don’t know what your problem is,” he said to the judge. “I just know I did something wrong.”
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