2nd UT kidnapping suspect turns self in

8/26/2013

BOWLING GREEN — A second suspect turned herself in Monday for her alleged role in the Aug. 18 abduction and robbery of a University of Toledo student from China.

Police said Hui Zang, 23, of Toledo turned herself in to Bowling Green Municipal Court without incident. She faces charges of kidnapping and aggravated robbery after police claim she acted as an interpreter of sorts in a plot to kidnap a foreign student and try to extract payment for his release.

Ms. Zang is the second woman to be arrested in connection with the incident. Brittany J. Long, 20, of Toledo was arrested last week on the same charges.

Police said charges against two male suspects are pending.

Police said Ms. Zang portrayed herself as a UT student and contacted several students on a Chinese-language Web site to set up a ransom ruse. Bowling Green police Deputy Chief Tony Hetrick said that police only know of one victim so far.

She invited the victim to go to Cedar Point, but the next day a group of people, including Ms. Zang, picked him up and took him to a vacant house in Bowling Green, according to the victim’s statements. Police said the student was robbed at knifepoint, and later the group took him to a hotel and tried but failed to secure ransom from his relatives in China.

The victim was dropped off near his Toledo apartment. He was not hurt. He told police Ms. Zang said she too had been abducted, a claim police have dismissed.

A preliminary hearing for Ms. Zang, who was released on her own recognizance, is set for Wednesday.