Abromovich is a pastor at Set Free God’s House ministry in Colorado Springs. He was arrested in Phoenix last week and was extradited to Denver on charges of kidnapping, theft and impersonating an officer. To make things worse, he also faces a theft charge in the Colorado Springs area. That makes the pastor unlikely to be set free anytime soon.
What is interesting is that the ministry says that Abromovich was able to fundraise and keep this ministry open. These accounts indicate that a woman assisted him by holding what turned out to be a paintball gun.
The most interesting charge is the kidnapping charge. The news accounts do not indicate that the victim was forced out of the motel room. That suggests that the false account given to the victim is being treated as kidnapping, which seems like a stretch. However, Colorado has a broad definition which include enticing people to a location on false pretenses:
§ 18-3-301. First degree kidnapping
(1) Any person who does any of the following acts with the intent thereby to force the victim or any other person to make any concession or give up anything of value in order to secure a release of a person under the offender’s actual or apparent control commits first degree kidnapping:
(a) Forcibly seizes and carries any person from one place to another; or
(b) Entices or persuades any person to go from one place to another; or
(c) Imprisons or forcibly secretes any person.
(2) Whoever commits first degree kidnapping is guilty of a class 1 felony if the person kidnapped shall have suffered bodily injury; but no person convicted of first degree kidnapping shall suffer the death penalty if the person kidnapped was liberated alive prior to the conviction of the kidnapper.
(3) Whoever commits first degree kidnapping commits a class 2 felony if, prior to his conviction, the person kidnapped was liberated unharmed.