Clerk foils kidnapping attempt

Andres Ventura Fargus, 25, was charged with felonious restraint in Henderson County after a teen ran into a convenience store to tell clerks Fargus had taken her against her will.

Provided photo

By Emily Weaver
Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, September 28, 2015 at 6:20 p.m.

A teenage girl ran up to the counter at Mountain Energy convenience store Saturday afternoon, pleading through tears for the clerk, Seth McCall, to call 911. She said she had been taken against her will.

When a man approached her from behind and attempted to pull her from the store seconds later, McCall picked up the phone, dialed 911 and sprang into action.

“That's all it took for Seth because it's a kid and Seth loves his nieces and nephews,” said Tammy Kodet, manager of the store at 712 Upward Road where McCall has worked for the last five months. “Seth picked up the phone and went around the counter and backed the man up against the Snapple machine” near the door.

He blocked the exit, keeping the man in the store until police arrived. Then, he called Kodet.

“Well, I don't know if I'm going to get fired or what,” McCall told his boss on the phone Saturday.

Kodet had just left the store and asked what was going on. He told her. But instead of getting fired, McCall gained recognition for his heroic acts.

Hendersonville police received the report of a child abduction call at 4:37 p.m. and rushed to the scene. Once there, officers found a 14-year-old girl from Cherokee County, S.C., who said 25-year-old Andres Ventura Fargas had taken her from his home on Debbie Drive in Spartanburg, S.C.

The girl was with friends at the suspect's house.

Fargas was an acquaintance of the family and was supposed to take the girl and her friends on some errands around town, the girl's family told police.

But before her friends could get in the car, Fargas took off with the girl, telling her that in Mexico it was OK for him to have a 14-year-old girlfriend, according to the police.

The suspect allowed her to call her mother as they headed north, Capt. Bruce Simonds of the Hendersonville Police Department said as he read from a report. The teen's mother told her to get out of the car as soon as she could, even if that meant she had to jump from the moving vehicle. But when Fargas pulled into fuel up at the Upward Road gas station, the girl saw her chance to escape and ran inside the convenience store where McCall stepped into action.

McCall “said he didn't know what to do but to protect the girl until the cops got here, and that's just Seth's nature,” Kodet said. “I think that it's pretty heroic what he did.”

The girl told police Fargas planned to take her to Tennessee. But the girl's mother told authorities that Fargas did not have any permission to take her daughter across state lines. The family is working with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office on the kidnapping investigation.

Fargas is being held on $100,000 bond in Henderson County on a charge of felonious restraint. He is also being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Kodet says she's happy the way things ended up. “I'm just thankful that he (McCall) saved the little girl because you don't know what would have happened to her. He said his dad said, 'Well, that man could have shot you.' I said, 'Well, that man could have also raped that girl and led her to a slow death,'” she said.

Kodet is proud of McCall and says if she could clone him and have another employee like him, her job would be a lot easier. As for his worries about being fired, she said, “I think he is going to be recognized by Mountain Energy as well.”

McCall was enjoying a much-earned vacation at the beach on Monday.

Reach Weaver at Emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867. Follow Weaver on Twitter @BRNEmily.