By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A Metairie man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman after driving her from Kenner to Ruddock in St. John the Baptist Parish turned himself in to authorities Thursday.

Rodolfo Aguiar-Estrada, 54, of Bissonet Drive, Metairie, surrendered to St. John Parish sheriff’s deputies at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace just after 2 a.m. Thursday, said Capt. Dane Clement, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.

Aguiar-Estrada is being held at the jail, where he was booked on second-degree battery, oral sexual battery and second-degree kidnapping charges. Clement said his bond was set at $65,000.

According to a report from the Sheriff’s Office, on Jan. 29 at about 1:31 a.m., deputies were called to the Ruddock exit of I-55 for a woman requesting help from a passerby. The 37-year-old woman told deputies she was in Kenner when a man later identified as Aguiar-Estrada asked if she needed a ride. The woman accepted the offer but became concerned when he did not take her where she had asked to go.

The woman asked to be let out of Aguiar-Estrada’s truck, but he refused and continued to drive to the Ruddock exit. Clement said the woman was able to escape when Aguiar-Estrada stopped at an intersection. The woman told police that she was hit, fondled and forced to perform sexual acts.

The woman was taken to River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace, where she was treated for minor injuries to her hands and face.

Through the course of the investigation, detectives determined that Aguiar-Estrada was a suspect in the attack. Clement said the victim was able to identify Aguiar-Estrada out of a six-man photographic lineup, and detectives obtained an arrest warrant.