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SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 38-year-old probationer pleaded guilty today and was immediately sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for jumping into an idling car and kidnapping the woman seated inside.
Jaime Arechiga Magana pleaded guilty to carjacking and kidnapping. As part of his plea deal, charges of kidnapping for carjacking, false imprisonment of an elder, both felonies, and driving without a valid driver's license and petty theft, both misdemeanors, were dismissed.
Magana has been in custody since Oct. 8, 2020.
About noon on Oct. 3, 2020, the then-67-year-old victim was waiting in an idling car at Mom's Market, 5111 W. Edinger Ave., as her husband was shopping when Magana got into the driver's seat and drove away, police said.
When the woman asked to be let out of the car, he refused and drove her to Centennial Park, where he took the keys with him and told her to stay put, police said.
The woman's sister and her husband had a find-my-phone app and were able to track down her location, police said.
Magana drove around for 45 minutes before arriving at the park, where he got out of the woman's car to buy narcotics and beer, and the victim called her family for help, police said.
One of her relatives drove to the park and snapped a photo of Magana when he returned to the car, and an officer assigned to monitor probationers recognized Magana from the cell phone picture, according to police.