A 24-year-old woman allegedly being held hostage by a man she met online was saved after using Grubhub to alert a nearby cafe to call the police, according to the local eatery.
The Chipper Truck Cafe in Yonkers, New York revealed that on June 19, they received an early-morning order with an added note pleading for help. Sharing a photo of the note to Facebook, the establishment revealed it read, “please call the police his going to call me when u delivered come with the cones please don’t make it obvious.”
“This morning around 5 am a girl was saved from a 5 hour hostage situation. She ordered a delivery through Grubhub to our restaurant and added this note,” the owners said on Facebook. “Our staff responded immediately and called the police and she got saved. I’ve often heard of this happening but never thought it would happen to us. Thankfully we were open and able to help her. A big Thank you to the Police for their fast response.”
The worker who received the order quickly called the business owners, who told them to call the cops.
According to police (via ABC 7), the delivery was for a 24-year-old woman who was being held by a 32-year-old man she met online. After meeting for the first time in-person, the “encounter turned violent” and he allegedly sexually assaulted her, per authorities. Police say the suspect, Kemoy Royal, allowed her to use her phone to order food — placing the order at 5am for a breakfast sandwich and hamburger.
When he opened the door for the food, it was the police instead, according to the report.
Royal was charged with rape, unlawful imprisonment, strangulation, criminal sex act and sexual abuse. He was also charged with the attempted sexual assault of another woman — who “was able to get away,” per ABC — on June 14.
The owners of the restaurant learned about the arrest after one of the victim’s friends reached out.
“They called to thank us and just to be like, ‘thank you so much for helping my friend and just, you know making sure that she was fine,'” they said. “We really had no idea of the gravity of the situation until after everything had happened.”
According to Inside Edition, Royal is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail and will appear in court Friday.
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