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Grand Jury indicts suspect in UTA student kidnapping, assault

Joel Engobo Mambe, 20, faces charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery.

ARLINGTON, Texas — FORT WORTH, Texas -- A Tarrant County Grand Jury indicted a suspect who robbed a University of Texas Arlington student and sexually assaulted her in June.

Joel Engobo Mambe, 20, faces charges of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery.

Armed with a gun, Mambe approached the victim at about 3 a.m. at the Midtown Apartments as she returned home from a night out with friends, according to Arlington police. He forced the victim to drive her car to an ATM and withdraw money. Police said he then sexually assaulted her after she drove to another apartment complex.

Mambe then forced the victim to drop him off at another apartment complex in East Arlington, where he stole her phone and fled the scene on foot. The victim was able to call police at about 4:41 a.m. after she returned back to her apartment complex.

"So this endured anywhere from an hour-and-a-half to a two-hour ordeal for this woman," said Lt. Christopher Cook, a spokesman with Arlington police during a news conference.

Authorities said surveillance video from an apartment complex proved to be very helpful in supporting the investigation along with the victim’s cooperation.

Police recovered the victim’s property including her debit card and the gun used in the offense at the arrest location but can't go into specifics on how they were able to track down Mambe.

He remains in custody at the Tarrant County Jail.

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