By Joshua Knopp/managing editor
A 20-year-old male is being held in a Tarrant County jail after he was charged with an attempted kidnapping that occurred Feb. 23 on South Campus, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
Tuan Phan, who is held in lieu of more than $95,000 bail, is suspected to be one of the men who, on multiple occasions in late February, reportedly followed and harassed women ages 23 to 36.
About half an hour after the attempted kidnapping Feb. 23, Phan was arrested on outstanding warrants when police went to investigate a separate report of stalking.
“[The student] stated she had seen them [two men] following her to different locations on campus and that they had never tried
to make contact with her,” the police report reads.
According to the report, a patrol officer told the student to call dispatch if she encountered the duo again. Two minutes later in the bookstore, she did. The patrol officer found Phan, who matched the description the student gave him. The officer arrested Phan on outstanding warrants of theft, aggravated robbery and burglary habitation from Arlington and a public urination ticket from Irving.
Phan is not enrolled at TCC.
Another officer, working with a student who had almost been kidnapped earlier that day, suspected Phan might have been connected. According to the second officer’s report, he’d heard about the first officer transporting a person who fit the description the kidnapping victim gave him. The officer took the victim to the jail, and she identified Phan as one of her attackers. The officers subsequently filed an affidavit against Phan for unlawful restraint and aggravated assault.
The victim had been walking toward Lot 3 on the east side of South Campus when two men, one of whom she identified as Phan, engaged her in conversation and then attempted to pull her into their black Tahoe.
“As I walked to my car, they tried to pull me in this car, and I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ and they yelled, ‘Get in the car,’” the victim said in her statement. “And as I’m screaming, there is nobody there to help me.”
Police chief Shaun Williams said if students encounter a potentially criminal scenario they don’t want to interfere with, they are encouraged to call the police.
“Sometimes people are fearful to get involved in situations,” Williams said. “But it’s always helpful to us for them to call 911 and let us know about the situation.”
