Jemison Police look for man wanted in assault, kidnapping

Published 3:44 pm Friday, August 5, 2011

Jemison Police are looking for a man accused of kidnapping and assaulting a fellow resident of the city and then throwing him out of a moving vehicle.

Rodrigo Aburto Fernandez, 24, is wanted for crimes that allegedly left 18-year-old Jose Alfredo Sanchez bleeding and laying beside County Road 5 on July 31.

Sanchez was transported to UAB hospital via helicopter but first was able to tell officers that his injuries followed him being forced into a vehicle by four masked men on County Road 220.

Sanchez was beaten and cut with a knife and said one of the assailants—Fernandez—removed his mask and told Sanchez the attack was payback for Sanchez signing a warrant against Fernandez in October 2010 for harassment.

“We are 100 percent confident that the motive is that this victim filed charges on him back last year, and [Fernandez] was deported,” JPD Chief Shane Fulmer said. “Apparently the victim was pulled into a vehicle, assaulted and thrown from the moving vehicle onto the side of road, where he was found…bleeding badly.”

Sanchez’s injuries were not life threatening.

The other three suspects in the attack have not been indentified.

A warrant was issued for Fernandez on charges of kidnapping and felony assault.

Fernandez was arrested on Oct. 10 and taken to the Chilton County Jail facing charges of harassment, possessing a pistol without a permit and violation of the prohibition law (having alcohol in his vehicle in a dry county).

“It was determined while he was in jail that the city of Jemison and Clanton had warrants on him as well,” Fulmer said.

Fernandez made bond in January but was turned over to Calera Police Department. He also visited the Shelby County Jail on charges brought by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department before agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Mexico on Jan. 27.

Fernandez was deported again on April 15.