(NewsNation) — Three inmates who escaped from a jail in Georgia and were caught in Florida last week are accused of kidnapping a Lyft driver and threatening her life, according to authorities.
Stevenson Charles, 24, Yusuf Minor, 31, and Naod Yohannes, 25, escaped from DeKalb County Jail in Georgia on Dec. 22, as previously reported by NewsNation.
After escaping, the trio is accused of using the rideshare service Lyft to travel across state lines to Florida and kidnapping the driver, according to a court affidavit obtained by The Associated Press.
After their escape, the inmates were picked up by an unnamed man and taken to one of their girlfriends’ homes, U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said. A Lyft ride was then ordered under a fake female name.
Upon entering the Lyft, “one of the defendants wrapped a rope around the victim’s neck from behind, and then the victim’s hands were bound together. The victim was then forced into the backseat,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
The driver told investigators that she was held in the car for six to 10 hours as they tried to gain access to her phone and online banking records. After trying to escape once, she endured “increased threats of being shot, raped, and tortured,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.
Law enforcement eventually located one of the inmates, Charles, driving the victim’s car, and he was apprehended shortly afterward. Minor and Yohannes were also arrested later that night.
All three inmates were charged with kidnapping as well as the escape, according to criminal complaints. They also face previous charges of:
- Stevenson Charles, 24: Murder and armed robbery
- Yusuf Minor, 31: Two counts of armed robbery and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
- Naod Yohannes, 25: Simple assault, arson and unlawful acts of violence in a penal institution
The Associated Press and NewsNation’s Jordan Perkins contributed to this report.