STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) – A California father and son are facing charges after they allegedly kidnapped a woman so priests could perform an exorcism.
Deputies said the man and his son took his ex-wife against her will from a Walmart parking lot Saturday morning after they said she had undergone some drastic changes recently. The pair said they believed demons were to blame for the changes.
Deputies said 42-year-old Jose Magana-Farias and 20-year-old Victor Farias arranged to meet up with the mother, saying they wanted to make the marriage work.
Not knowing what was about to happen the woman got into the car. Once they hit the road, the pair picked up a priest in south Stockton -- and another priest at a second location.
According to a police report, the priests doused her with "sacred oils" and "purified her" through a religious ritual. Deputies said the woman was not tortured.
The victim's roommate, who lived nearby, alerted deputies to the kidnapping. The mother was found safe.
Both the father and son are in jail on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit a crime.
