Police have arrested a convicted rapist in the case. The woman was not hurt.
By TAMARA LUSH
Published December 11, 2003
TAMPA - A convicted rapist kidnapped a woman in a Wal-Mart parking lot early Wednesday, then drove around the city until the woman persuaded him to stop for food, authorities said.
Martine Breme, 23, told Hillsborough sheriff's deputies she works at the Wal-Mart at 2701 E Fletcher Ave., and was in the parking lot about 12:55 a.m. when a man approached her.
He told her to climb into her car, she said, and threatened to hurt her if she didn't. The man, later identified by the Sheriff's Office as 33-year-old Erik Breece, told Breme to drive south to Hillsborough Avenue.
Sheriff's Lt. Rod Reder said Breme persuaded Breece to stop at a fast-food restaurant to get food for a friend.
The man let her stop at a sandwich shop and let her go inside. Breme told someone in the store to call 911, then rejoined Breece. Somehow, Reder said, she persuaded him to drive back to the Wal-Mart parking lot.
It was there that deputies caught up with them and arrested Breece. Breme was not hurt.
Records show Breece has been convicted of first-degree sexual abuse, assault and kidnapping in Arkansas, and served six years in prison for those crimes. Breece was charged with kidnapping, burglary and battery. He is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail without bail.
Deputies said it is unclear why he chose Breme as his victim; the two do not know each other.
