DETROIT – Two men who are cousins have been charged in connection with the kidnapping and rape of a woman in Lincoln Park.
Fernando DeLon Anderson, 24, and Fernando Delon Anderson, 19, -- both of Detroit and who share the same name, according to the prosecutor's office -- are accused of kidnapping a 23-year-old victim at gunpoint on March 30 outside a Walgreens near Southfield Road and Fort Street. Police said the victim told them that the men forced her to drive to a street in Detroit, where they sexually assaulted her. The men then made her drive back to Lincoln Park, where they stole her cellphone before fleeing the area, police said.
Before the suspects were arrested, police released a photo of one of them, saying it was taken from a gas station surveillance camera that he had stopped in during the kidnapping. He was arrested earlier this week. The second suspect turned himself in to police on Wednesday.
The suspects were arraigned Friday on charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, robbery, kidnapping and felony firearm. Bond was set at $500,000 each.
Suspects call foul on victim's claims
Family members of the 19-year-old suspect showed Local 4 text messages from the woman who his family said he and his cousin contacted via Backpage, a classifieds website. They say she was an escort offering sexual services. They also gave police text messages showing a rendezvous was being set up.
A sister of the 19-year-old Anderson said her brother is being falsely accused.
“You were telling them how much you charge, what you do and how much you charge an hour,” Brandee Robinson said.
Robinson also said she saw the woman in the car with her brother and cousin and said that she was smoking and rolling marijuana.
The family thinks the woman is mad because the men didn’t pay her.
Local 4 contacted the woman, who declined an interview.