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Friday, Oct. 23, 2009
Tracy man arrested after allegedly kidnapping woman
Sheriff's deputy pulls over car, notices suspicious behavior.
A 21-year-old Tracy man was jailed on suspicion of kidnapping on Wednesday after an 18-year-old woman reported he held her against her will and threatened her with a knife.
Steven Flippen was arrested not long after a Merced County Sheriff's deputy pulled over the suspect's car around 10 p.m. on southbound Highway 99, near the Applegate Road exit, according to Deputy Tom MacKenzie, sheriff's spokesman.
Under questioning, the suspect denied the accusations, MacKenzie said.
Steven Flippen
The incident was reported after Deputy Delray Shelton was on patrol and noticed a early 2000 model Lexus speeding and driving erratically on the highway.
After pulling over the suspect's car, the deputy noticed Flippen was nervous and showed signs of being under the influence of illegal drugs. The deputy also noticed that the alleged victim, seated in the passenger seat, appeared extremely quiet and afraid.
The deputy became suspicious and asked the woman to step outside the car and talk with him. The victim broke down and started crying, telling the deputy that she'd been at a friend's house in Tracy with Flippen earlier in the day and drove away with him willingly.
During the course of a two-hour drive, however, she said Flippen began acting strangely and began making sexual advances toward her. The woman said she refused his advances and asked him to take her home, MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie said the suspect ignored the woman's pleas, began talking to himself and brandished a knife in his right hand, threatening her. The woman said Flippen told her it "was her time to die."
The woman said she also had no idea where she'd been taken until the deputy pulled over the car. After Flippen was taken into custody, deputies found a knife, with a black handle and a 10-inch blade, on the driver's-side floorboard of the car.
Deputies also found a small amount of marijuana and a meth pipe in the car, MacKenzie said.
The victim was reunited with her mother and was able to talk with a counselor after the incident.
Under questioning, Flippen denied the accusations, saying he never threatened the girl or refused to take her home.
Flippen was booked into the Merced County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping charges and remains on $100,000 bail.
Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.
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