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Florida Lyft driver kidnapped, forced into night-long crime spree

Posted at 4:56 PM, Dec 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-22 20:16:08-05

Tampa Police are investigating a terrifying kidnapping and robbery of a Lyft driver that lasted 11 hours.

According to police, the victim was forced to drive four suspects around Hillsborough and Polk Counties while they committed numerous retail thefts and narcotic drugs law violations. 

The driver, who wished to stay anonymous, says he picked up the criminals on East Diana Street around 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

The person in the front seat showed him a gun and said, "You're working for us tonight."

The driver told police he was forced to drive to at least 30 different locations for drug transactions and different retail thefts. At each stop, one of the criminals would always stay in the car with him.

He says the criminals were also smoking marijuana in his vehicle during the ordeal.

While driving, the criminals would type addresses into his cell phone GPS app, telling him to go to the addresses. They also used his cell phone to take pictures of themselves.

One of the criminals sent the pictures to his Facebook page using the victim's cell phone. 

The driver says he drove approximately 350 miles with the criminals inside.

At around 10:00 a.m next morning, the driver dropped the four back off on East Diana Street.

He says they told him they would kill him if he called police, but he flagged down an officer nearby.

Two of the criminals were found playing basketball at a park about a block and a half away.

Police arrested Aaron Diggs, 18, and Willie Brown III, 18.  

Two of the suspects have not been arrested.