Woman charged with burglary and kidnapping

Police report boy escaped armed abductor

Friday, June 19, 2009

The boy, who escaped unharmed, reported to police that he believes the woman was an aunt of his former girlfriend, sheriff's deputy Cindy Allen said Thursday.

"She forced him to leave [the house] to go talk to his ex-girlfriend," Allen said. "The victim stated the gun was never pointed directly at him, but he feared for his safety. The victim jumped out of the [suspect's] vehicle and ran back to his residence, and told his mom what happened."

Debra Ann Francisco, 40, was charged with kidnapping, first-degree burglary and first-degree assault offenses obtained by police investigating the incident reported last Friday at the 13-year-old boy's home on Golden Beach Road.

Francisco went into the home uninvited and repeatedly pushed the boy's back to force him out of the residence and into her vehicle, according to a charges application filed by sheriff's deputy Timothy White. "The defendant then drove away from the residence with the victim, against his will," White wrote in the charges application. "While driving away from the residence with the victim, the defendant brandished a handgun while telling the victim, ‘You're coming with me.'"

A warrant for Francisco's arrest was issued the next day, and Allen said the suspect was located Wednesday and taken into custody.

The charging papers list Francisco as having a Mechanicsville address, but a prosecutor said Thursday after the suspect's bond hearing that she identified herself in court as a La Plata resident living with her husband and doing home-improvement work.

The suspect also asserted her innocence during the court proceeding, St. Mary's Assistant State's Attorney Michael Kane said. "She denied ownership of a handgun," the prosecutor said, "but that doesn't mean she couldn't have gotten her hands on one."

jwharton@somdnews.com