LAKE STEVENS — The teenager said he had planned to sell his belt and shoes to someone he met on Snapchat.
Then, on Friday, he and a friend reportedly found themselves locked in the prospective buyer’s van in Lake Stevens, guns pointed at them from all directions, according to court papers.
Two men were booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree kidnapping of a minor, first-degree robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The deal was supposed to take place by the post office in Lake Stevens. The two teenagers went to meet with the buyer, while a third person stayed in the car. The teen selling his belongings said he had joked to the friend staying behind, telling him to check on them if they weren’t back in three minutes.
The two boys got in the buyer’s van and sat in the middle bench. A woman reportedly was seated next to them, looking at her phone and not talking to anybody, while two men were in front.
Someone apparently used a button to close the door. Then it locked, the teens told police.
The van began moving, documents say. One of the boys asked where they were going. “We’re just driving down the street,” the driver reportedly said.
The teenagers tried to get out, but the power-operated door would only budge a few inches.
Then, they told police, a man hiding in the back allegedly pointed two pistols at the backs of the teenagers’ heads.
“All that,” he reportedly said, according to the boys.
The two men in front turned around and also pointed guns at them, the boys said. One gun reportedly had a green laser sight.
The passenger sitting in front allegedly took the boys’ belts, both reportedly worth hundreds of dollars, as well as their shoes, phones and wallets. The suspect also demanded the passwords to the phones, which the teenagers gave, court papers said.
As the van turned onto 20th Street NE, the boys were able to open the door and get out, the documents said. The teenagers got the license plate number as the van took off.
On Monday, Lake Stevens police found the van parked outside of a residence in Lake Stevens and arrested one of the suspects.
Officers interviewed the 41-year-old man, from Lynnwood, at the police department. He said he was driving, and that his friend was buying dabs of cannabis extract from the teenagers.
He denied having a firearm, but said the other two had pointed guns at the boys and then took the dabs and other belongings, according to court papers. The driver told police that he didn’t have any part in planning the robbery, and wondered if it was spontaneous, according to documents.
He and a 20-year-old Mukilteo man were still in jail Wednesday, with bail set to $100,000. Police were still working to identify the third man as of Wednesday.
Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.
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