By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Charges laid in Red Deer kidnapping

Oct 22, 2018 | 10:17 AM

RCMP have charged two men after last week’s abduction of a 48-year-old woman.

It was shortly before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, October 17 when Red Deer RCMP responded to a gas station on 39 Street near 40 Avenue after a witness reported seeing a woman possibly being forced into a maroon Chevrolet Avalanche.

Mounties were able to quickly identify a possible victim and one possible suspect. Police checked numerous residences and vehicles matching the description of the suspect Avalanche throughout the day. The RCMP Major Crimes Unit (MCU) out of Edmonton and the RCMP Emergency Response Team also were also called in.

Shortly after 3 p.m. that afternoon, RCMP received a public tip regarding the location of the suspect and victim and located them at a south hill residence. Police arrested one male suspect and determined that the victim had suffered injuries that did not require hospitalization. A second male suspect was arrested later the same evening. The suspects were known to the victim, according to RCMP.

Ernest Frederick Ward, 47, is charged with kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault, sexual assault, uttering threat to cause death or bodily harm, obstructing justice, and two counts of failing to comply with conditions of an undertaking.

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David Lee Gallinger, 25, is charged with kidnapping.

Both men are to appear in Red Deer provincial court today (Monday).