Cashier Helps Save Woman From Kidnappers
Jul 16, 2018, 3:45 PM | Updated: Jun 7, 2022, 4:01 pm
STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — A quick-thinking cashier in California helped save a woman from suspected kidnappers.
Surveillance video caught the moment a woman, who investigators say was kidnapped from Fresno and sexually assaulted got away from her captors – by convincing them to let her use the bathroom.
She walked into a Waterford gas station and asked the first person she saw for help, cashier Savannah Pritchett, “The first thing she did tell me was, ‘I was kidnapped and they do have guns. Please lock the door. They will kill us or kill me.’ So it was kind of like, okay, well, all right.”
It was just before three, Wednesday afternoon, when 24-year-old Pritchett, a cashier at Triple R, realized the severity of the situation and needed to make a split decision.
“She said she didn’t have a phone and I had my cellphone in my pocket and I was like, ‘Hey, I’ll put Stanislaus County on the phone and here you go,”‘ said Pritchett.
Trying to find a safe spot, Pritchett took her into the back of the store into the bathroom where she locked the door.
Pritchett said, “I told her don’t open the door until you hear the sheriffs.”
Two suspects, one 18 and the another 16 waited outside. Surveillance video show the two suspects pacing, but when Pritchett locks the front door, they try to get in.
After hiding the victim, Pritchett unlocked the store and told the suspects the woman was using the restroom.
“Her being able to get this victim into a secured restroom with a phone to be able to contact law enforcement very well may have saved her life,” said Sgt. Tom Letras, with Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies arrived with guns drawn and stormed the store, again all caught on video.
Inside, they get 18-year-old Anthony Sandoval on the ground and arrest him. Two 16-year-olds are are also arrested.
Police find a gun inside the suspects’ car and another in the store.
“If I wouldn’t have believed her, what would have happened to her?” questioned Pritchett.
Since the incident Pritchett said she hasn’t stopped thinking about the woman and said she was just trying to do the right thing.
“If you tell me that you’re in distress, okay, well, let’s try to figure it out and get you out of it,” said Pritchett.
