WASHINGTON — The FBI used public social media postings to track a London man, who’s suspected of kidnapping a Georgetown student, to Washington State, according to new court documents and the law enforcement agency.
Federal authorities arrested Paolo Aldorasi, 34, of London, on Feb. 24, the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C. said Tuesday. Aldorasi is facing a kidnapping charge.
On Jan. 26, Aldorasi is accused of approaching a foreign-born Georgetown University student at 34th and O streets near the Georgetown campus and asking him for help with directions before allegedly grabbing him by the wrist and directing the student to get into the passenger seat of Aldorasi’s rented SUV, court documents said.
The two then proceeded to hit four ATMs and two stores, Best Buy and Cartier, in D.C. and Maryland in an attempt to use the student’s credit card, but court documents said all the attempted transactions were declined.
After two hours of driving around the area, court documents said Aldorasi released the student who then called 911 to report the crime.
Using surveillance video, the FBI worked to identify Aldorasi starting with his rental car paperwork. Authorities also said they linked Aldorasi to the vehicle by a video he’d posted to one of his social media accounts.
The agency also confirmed to WTOP its officers were able to track him to the Seattle area by following his social media postings.
