A woman in her 20s who was kidnapped from her Sherman Oaks home Friday night and found hours later – partially nude and bound with duct tape – on a Van Nuys street likely knew her attackers, the Los Angeles Police Department said Sunday.
Lt. Albert Galvin said two Hispanic women – one about 5’ 1” and the other almost 6’ – entered the woman’s home, bound her legs and arms with duct tape and threw her into a waiting car. The victim told police she was snatched to be placed in a prostitution ring.
“I haven’t heard of anything like this before in all my years. It’s very disturbing, very concerning,” Galvin told Fox 11.
A source told The Post the woman was treated in hospital and was back home Sunday, being cared for by relatives.
Police initially believed the victim did not know her attackers and security was immediately increased in the leafy suburb.
But cops now say it wasn’t a random crime.
“I want the public to know … we don’t believe this was a stranger kidnapping. There is more to the story and the investigation,” he said.
The suspects — described as “armed and dangerous” — are still at large, Galvin added.
Mom Sherri Papini, 34, told cops she was abducted and held captive for three weeks in California in November. She was found beaten, bound and gagged on the side of a road on Nov. 24.
The pony-tailed blonde told police two armed Hispanic women kidnapped her while she was jogging.
But the Daily Mail has reported that a witness has said they saw Papini two days before she was found and described the two people she was with as two men – one Hispanic, the other white.
The two incidents happened about 500 miles apart.
A police source said detectives from both cases are comparing notes.


