A Florida man convicted of kidnapping a teenage girl from Manchester in 2015 could be getting a new trial.
In a July 31 decision, the Fourth Judicial Department of state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division reversed the conviction of Carlos Vail. He was found guilty in a jury trial of first-degree kidnapping and sentenced by Monroe County Judge Elma Bellini, who presided over the trial, to 18 years in prison.
Vail, who was 25 at the time, was charged by Ontario County Sheriff’s Office investigators after taking a 14-year-old girl from Manchester to Florida. Police said the girl went willingly, climbing out a bedroom window and getting into Vail’s car, and Vail knew the girl when she lived in Florida.
Vail was arrested by police in Georgia as he and the girl were heading to Florida. Vail told police he was the girl’s boyfriend, despite their age difference, and admitted having a sexual relationship with her.
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