55°
Surveillance footage shows Reginald J. Law, 35, and an accomplice bursting into the Easter Grocery and Food Market at 10th Avenue and East 28th Street last Oct. 8.
While one grabbed owner Miguel Espejo in a chokehold, the other pointed a gun at him.
The trio wrestled in front of the counter, knocking over items, before Espego was pistol-whipped, dragged from the store and shoved into the back of a rented U-Haul box truck with Arizona license plates that sped off, witnesses told police.
Law and his partner kept Espego in the back of the van on a city street while they “repeatedly called the victim's family to demand ransom money for his release,” an FBI release says.
Agents later reported finding Espejo tied up in the Bronx later that day. He’d sustained minor injuries, authorities said.
It took the FBI less than a week to identify their suspects, thanks in part to a familiar “laugh now/cry later” tattoo on Law's arm and a tattoo of a woman on his torso.
They said they arrested Law's partner, although they haven't yet identified him.
FBI officials obtained a federal warrant for Law’s arrest on charges of kidnapping and using a handgun during a violent crime. They offered a $5,000 reward this week for information leading to his capture.
Authorities didn't saw where Law, a construction laborer by trade, was arrested or under what circumstances when they announced his arrest Wednesday evening.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Washington Township and receive free news updates.
