By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Sheriff’s deputies in St. John the Baptist Parish are looking for a Metairie man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman.

Capt. Dane Clement, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said Rodolfo Aguiar-Estrada, 54, is wanted on charges of second-degree battery, oral sexual battery and second-degree kidnapping. Aguiar-Estrada allegedly kidnapped the woman from Kenner and drove her into Ruddock.

According to a report from the Sheriff’s Office, at about 1:31 a.m. Thursday, Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Ruddock exit of I-55 for a woman requesting help from a passerby. The 37-year-old woman told deputies she was in Kenner when a man driving a dark Chevrolet pickup truck asked if she needed a ride. The woman accepted the offer but became concerned when the driver did not take her where she had asked to go.

The woman asked to be let out of the truck, but the driver refused and continued to drive to the Ruddock exit. Clement said the woman was able to escape when the driver stopped at an intersection. The woman told police that the suspect hit her, fondled her and forced her to perform sexual acts.

Clement said the woman was taken to River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace, where she was treated for minor injuries to her hands and face and released.

Through the course of the investigation, detectives determined that Aguiar-Estrada was a suspect in the attack. Clement said the victim was able to identify Aguiar-Estrada out of a six-man photographic lineup and detectives obtained an arrest warrant.

Detectives have been unable to locate Aguiar-Estrada since Thursday. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact St. John Sheriff’s Office detectives at 985-652-6338.