Attorney disputes police's hoax claim in Vallejo kidnapping

VALLEJO, Calif. (KABC) -- The attorney for a Vallejo man who reported his girlfriend was kidnapped and held for ransom has disputed claims by police that the two faked the whole thing.

Attorney Dan Russo says his client Aaron Quinn was bound and drugged during his girlfriend Denise Huskins' abduction.

At a news conference Thursday, Russo told reporters that there was more than one kidnapper and that the suspects sent multiple ransom texts to Quinn's cellphone demanding $8,500.

"All we know is our client has no responsibility for this kidnap," Russo said, adding that his client is cooperating with authorities and underwent 17 hours of interrogation.

Russo went on to say that Quinn was "forced to drink something that even the kidnappers told him was drugged."

Huskins, 29, was initially reported kidnapped for ransom on Monday around 2 p.m. Quinn took 12 hours to report Huskins' abduction from the home they share in Mare Island.

Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park said the delay is part of what aroused suspicions.

"The statement that Mr. Quinn provided was such an incredible story, we initially had a hard time believing it," Park said. "Upon further investigation, we were not able to substantiate any of the things that he was saying."

Vallejo police said they continued to treat the case as a kidnapping until Huskins showed up safe Wednesday morning at her parents' Huntington Beach home. The Southern California-native moved to Vallejo from Toluca Lake in June 2014.

More than 40 detectives and 100 support personnel were involved in the search for Huskins, Vallejo police said.

After the investigation turned to the couple, police said they weren't able to contact either Huskins or her family members by Wednesday's end. Huskins had indicated she would talk to detectives, and the FBI had arranged to have her flown back to Northern California, police said. She hired an attorney, but the lawyer's name was not released.

Jeff Kane, Huskins' uncle, disputed that the family was avoiding calls from police. He said that his family is not refusing to talk to authorities. He said the last time the family spoke to police their conversation ended with a handshake. He says Huskins is in Vallejo and has an attorney. He adds that she is fragile, considering the horrifying experience she went through.

Vallejo police called the 29-year-old's kidnapping an orchestrated event during a press conference Wednesday night.

"I can tell you in the grand scheme of things, Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins have plundered valuable resources away from our community and taken the focus away from the true victims of our community while instilling fear in our community members," Park said. "So if anything, it is Mr. Quinn and Ms. Huskins that owes this community an apology."

On Thursday morning, Kane spoke out about that press conference.

"They really assassinated her character and the character of her family," he said. "And I think it is unfair they are being portrayed this way by the police department," he said. "And then now, because that aired all over the place, the court of opinion is squarely against them. If you go on the Internet, people want their heads. They think they've wasted all these public resources. But the truth is just the opposite."

On Thursday afternoon, Huskins reappeared in Vallejo and was interviewed by police.

The investigation is ongoing. Police say that if enough evidence shows that Quinn and Huskins lied about a crime being committed, they will call for criminal charges to be filed against them.

KGO-TV and The Associated Press contributed to this report.