Beaumont Man Indicted for Pappadeaux’s Carjacking

BEAUMONT, TX—A 19-year-old Beaumont, Texas man has been indicted for carjacking in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales.

Rogelio Arellano Torres was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 11, 2012, and charged with carjacking.

According to court documents, on June 24, 2012, law enforcement officers were dispatched to the Walden Road area of Interstate-10 South, where they found a young woman visibly upset, crying, and shaking. The woman told them she had been forcibly kidnapped from the Pappadeaux’s parking lot in her own car and forced to withdraw money from her account through an ATM. The woman was eventually forced from her vehicle and the assailant fled with her car, purse, and cell phone. She described the man, whom police believed to be Torres based on previous contact with him, and she was able pick him out of a photo line-up.

If convicted, Torres faces up to 15 years in federal prison.

This case is being investigated by FBI and the Beaumont Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph R. Batte.

A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.