Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita, III announces that an Erie County Court Jury has convicted 23 year- old Hakim Owens, and 20 year- old Paul Manning, Jr., both of Buffalo, guilty as charged  of one count of Kidnapping in the Second Degree and one count of Attempted Kidnapping in the Second Degree.  This is the highest charge for which the defendants could have been convicted.

Owens and Manning, Jr. stood trial for crimes committed on October 16, 2014, when they impersonated FBI agents in order to abduct women off the streets of Buffalo.  The two defendants identified themselves as FBI agents and Hakim Owens wore FBI clothing and a police badge. 

They first attempted to pull a woman into their SUV at the corner of Broadway and Liddell Streets in the City of Buffalo, but ultimately failed to abduct her when the woman began to struggle and two bystanders intervened on her behalf. 

A couple minutes later, however, Owens and Manning, Jr. approached a second woman a couple blocks away.  They pulled up next to that woman, jumped out of their SUV, identified themselves as FBI agents and handcuffed her behind her back.  They then pulled her into their vehicle and sped away. 

The woman testified at trial that as things began to escalate, she truly believed that something horrific was about to happen to her.  She screamed for the men to release her and they responded by tightening her handcuffs.

The first woman flagged down police and told them what had happened to her.  Buffalo Police Officer Vincent Judge and his partner, Officer Andrew Shea, pursued defendants’ vehicle and stopped it a few blocks later.

The case was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eugene Partridge and Sydney Probst. The District Attorney lauded the investigation conducted by Buffalo Police Department Officers Andrew Shea, Vincent Judge and Ronald Clark, Jr.

Both defendants face a mandatory prison term having a minimum of five years and a potential maximum of 25 years when they are sentenced on July 16, 2015 by Judge Case.