South Carolina Man Pleads Guilty in Connection with Kidnapping and Assault

United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, announced that ARNOLD C. FOX, age 31, of Ravenel, South Carolina, entered a plea of guilty in United States District Court today to a federal kidnapping charge relating to his criminal activities that led to the discovery, in December 2009, of a woman whom he left injured and bound in a Weedsport, New York hotel room.

In today’s proceeding, as part of a signed plea agreement filed in U.S. District court, FOX admitted he placed a fraudulent advertisement for a non-existent job at a non-existent horse farm that was answered by the woman whom he lured across state lines into Pennsylvania, and days later assaulted and left unconscious in the Weedsport hotel where she was discovered by hotel staff.

FOX admitted that he stole the woman’s vehicle, changed the license plates in South Carolina, and then fled to Florida, where he was arrested within days by the FBI in Miami, who worked closely on this investigation with the Syracuse FBI Office and the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office.

FOX faces a maximum term of life imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to five years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for December 16, 2011 before Hon. David N. Hurd in Utica, New York.

FOX’s arrest is the result of an investigation by the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office, the Cayuga County District Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Syracuse, New York; South Carolina; and Miami, Florida. FOX is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher, who can be reached at 448-0672.