On New Year’s Day evening, the Lake City Police Department arrested a man from Tampa for kidnapping someone he met on a dating app.
The victim, a resident of Tampa, had agreed to meet 29-year-old Maxim Mark Dowd in Tampa on Sunday. After spending a few minutes together, they went to a convenience store.
However, when the victim asked Dowd to take them home, Dowd refused and drove to various places in Central Florida, trying to meet other people.
Despite the victim’s requests to go home after each stop, Dowd declined. Eventually, when they reached a home in Lake City, the victim informed a resident there that they had been taken from Tampa to Lake City against their will, which is about a three-hour drive.
The resident contacted the police.
Dowd was arrested and taken to the Columbia County Detention Center. He faces charges of kidnapping, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of more than one valid driver’s license, and resisting an officer without violence.
