Frantz Duperval
A man who allegedly hijacked a tractor-trailer cab in South Kearny got a bit more than he had bargained for following his arrest: Along with carjacking, he was charged with kidnapping. That’s because inside the vehicle, Kearny police said, had been the 8-year-old daughter of its owner.
The child’s presence was apparently not initially known to the accused thief, and when he discovered her, he discharged her from the cab just a short distance from where the theft occurred, police said. However, according to authorities, it still counts as a kidnapping.
Police said the girl was unharmed and was immediately reunited with her father.
The incident occurred about 4:15 p.m., July 12, on Hackensack Ave. KPD Officers Pat Becker and Frank West responded to the scene, where the owner of the 2007 Freightliner cab said he had been parked when it was hijacked.
Det. Michael Farinola, after reviewing security videos and interviewing guards in the area, developed as a suspect Frantz Duperval, 39, of South Orange, and enlisted the help of South Orange police in locating him, KPD Chief John Dowie said.
Police learned that a cell phone had been left in the stolen vehicle and they used its GPS tracking device to pinpoint its location. That night, the cab was recovered on S. Maple Ave. in East Orange, and Duperval was arrested shortly after midnight at his home, Dowie said.
Appearing the morning of July 13 at Central Judicial Processing in Jersey City, Duperval was ordered held at the Hudson County Jail on $200,000 bail.
