UPDATED: Man Charged with Forcing Motorist to Drive Him at Gunpoint Due in Court

BANNING (CNS) – A 26-year-old man accused of holding a motorist at gunpoint and forcing the victim, accompanied by his young son, to drive him through San Jacinto pleaded not guilty Friday to kidnapping and other charges.

Branden Marquis Williamson of San Jacinto was arrested Monday following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.

Along with the two kidnapping counts, Williamson is charged with armed robbery and child cruelty, as well as sentence-enhancing allegations of committing a crime while on bail and using a firearm during the commission of a felony.

He was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for May 9 at the Banning Justice Center and ordered the defendant held in lieu of $500,000 bail at the nearby Smith Correctional Facility.

Williamson was previously being held there without bail.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Anthony Pelato, about 7:40 a.m. Monday, the defendant allegedly confronted a man and his 7-year-old son outside a San Jacinto home, pointed a rifle at them and ordered the victim to drive him to a business district at South Sanderson Avenue and West Esplanade Avenue.

Pelato said the defendant got out of the car at the location, and the man immediately called 911.

“The caller and child were unharmed during the incident,” the sergeant said.

Patrol deputies converged on the area, initiating a search that ended less than an hour later at Commonwealth and Lyon avenues in neighboring Hemet, where Williamson was taken into custody without incident, according to the sheriff’s spokesman.

He said despite a thorough search of the surrounding area, the rifle was not located.

Williamson has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. Details on his earlier arrest and release from jail were unavailable.

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