Buffalo man pleads guilty to kidnapping Cheektowaga woman

Prosecutors said the kidnapping occurred March 2 when Abel Gebrehawaria, 24, followed the woman to her home on George Urban Boulevard in Cheektowaga after she left a downtown establishment in Buffalo.

Gebrehawaria, who did not know the woman, approached her in her driveway and dragged her into the backseat of his SUV parked on the street. He started to drive away, but the woman managed to grab his steering wheel and throw him onto the sidewalk a few houses down the street. Gebrehawaria decided to let the woman go and fled the scene. She fled and reported the incident to the police.

“She was smart and she fought,” Keane said during an April news conference at the district attorney’s office. “That’s why she’s here today and why she’s able to tell the story.”

Keane also noted that attempted stranger kidnappings are an unusual phenomenon in Western New York.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said the defendant did not explain why he kidnapped the victim.

Gebrehawaria, who remains free on $250,000 bail, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 23.

Keane commended Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Coons, Lt. Justin Haag, Detective Eric Derby and members of the department for their work in the investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Mattle of the Special Victims/Domestic Violence Office and Assistant District Attorney Mitchell C. Boughton of the Justice Courts Office.