Student Pleads Guilty in Kidnapping Scheme

Chinese national Zhenpeng Hu pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping, putting an end to one of the year’s most bizarre crimes.

According to reports, Hu, 25, working with alleged accomplice Shengfeng Cui, 27, snatched a Providence man from his bed in April, bound him, stuffed him in a duffel bag, and loaded him into his own Porsche to transport him to a Malden apartment. According to the FBI, the scheme had been to hold the man for 48 hours while selling his car, which was valued at $80,000.

While they were doing all that, the man escaped the bathroom where he was being held and alerted authorities, who waited for Hu to return home then took him into custody.

Hu, a student at an unspecified college in New England, pleaded guilty with no plea bargain. He could face up to life in prison when he is sentenced in April.