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Progreso police department accused of missing mark on kidnapping threat
Posted: 10.04.2012 at 10:43 PM
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Normally when people write on dirty cars, it might say "wash me," or have a friendly message.

But one dust-written message on a vehicle in Progreso was far from friendly.

"Carmen," as we will call her to hide her identity, discovered a message written in Spanish on her truck.

It threatened that she would be kidnapped if she did not come up with thousands of dollars.

She immediately called Progreso police, but was disappointed in how they handled the situation.

"[The officer] didn't give me a case number,” said “Carmen.” “He didn't even say 'you'll have the report ready tomorrow,' he didn't tell me anything."

We asked police if it was true that "Carmen" was not given a case number at the scene.

And, surprisingly, they agreed.

"It is possible that she was not given any case cards," said Captain A. Rodriguez with Progreso police.

Capt. Rodriguez says the department had run out of case cards, but an officer documented the incident back at the police station.

"Carmen" also claims that police never checked the message on her truck for fingerprints, even though the threat appears to have been written with someone's finger.

We also asked police if this was true.

"The procedure is for fingerprints to be taken,” said Capt. Rodriguez. “I don't know what happened, things happened too fast."

"Carmen" says she is terrified for herself and her family because of this threat, and feels Progreso police did not give her any peace of mind.

"He mentioned it could have been a joke,” said “Carmen.” “But to me, this is not a joke. This is to be taken seriously.”

However, Progreso police insisted they are paying close attention to this ongoing investigation.

"We are taking this very seriously,” said Capt. Rodriguez. “We are very close to the border, so we are taking it very seriously."

However, immediately after our interview, Action 4 News received photos from the victim’s family of Capt. Rodriguez and another officer.

And in the photos, the police officers were doing none other than taking fingerprints, something that police admitted should have been done from the very beginning.

Even though police admitted some things were not handled according to protocol, they do want to extend to the public that if anyone has information on who could have done this to call Progreso police at 565-9266.

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