27-Year-Old Man Arrested for Child Kidnapping and Grand Theft

Andrew T. Allen is a 27-year-old transient. Wednesday night, he was arrested and charged with kidnapping of a minor, a first-degree felony, grand theft and battery as a result of an incident that began at the Circle K at 890 Palm Coast Parkway.

The incident was resolved in short order and the 5-year-old child was not harmed.

Allen was in the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by his childhood friend, a woman, whose 5-year-old daughter was in the back seat. They stopped at the Circle K. She got out of the car. Allen went into the store. He then jumped in the driver’s seat and locked the door.




The woman attempted to have him open the door and tried to have her child open the door. At one point Allen did unlock the passenger door, which the woman managed to open–but Allen then drove off to a different pat of the parking lot. The woman caught up with him and gathered belongings from the car, only for Allen to allegedly get out of the car and assault her, shoving her in the throat while yelling at her, according to his arrest report.

Allen then jumped back in the car and sped off, with the child still in the back seat. A witness corroborated the victim’s claim.

Deputies located the vehicle at U.S. 1 and Commerce Boulevard and arrested Allen. The child was “in good health and not injured in any way,” according to the arrest report.

“This was great work by our deputies who acted quickly to recover the child and vehicle safely,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “A situation like this is very time-sensitive and required great teamwork to make sure no one was hurt. Of all the bad decisions Allen made at least he made one good choice and did not try to flee.”