Inmate Transport Driver Charged With Kidnapping After He Quit His Job Mid Shift And Refused To Drop Off Inmates

Joshua James Pinquet, of Orlando, Florida, was apprehended after he drove a van full of prison inmates off-course and wouldn’t stop as he was traveling to North Carolina.

Last Tuesday, at around 9 a.m., deputies were alerted about an inmate transport van on  I-40 in Statesville, North Carolina.

The caller owned the inmate transport company and had said that the driver wasn’t on the correct route and wouldn’t bring the van back. Pinquet had four inmates in the secured cargo part of the van.

Another employee was in the van with the driver and had been texting the transport company owner.

Pinquet disclosed to the owner, as he was on the trip, that he was quitting his job, and he refused to go to the stop at the intended destination for the inmates.

Officers pulled the van over on I-40 and found out that Pinquet was supposed to stop at an area in Hickory with the prisoners, but he refused to do so.

Pinquet has been charged with five counts of felony second-degree kidnapping and felony larceny by an employee.