ABDUCT TAPE: The “kidnapping” scene caught on video above, which triggered a police manhunt, was just the prelude to a party for “victims” Cristian Joe (right) and Melody DeJesus, pulled off by pals Hamlet Pena (left) and Julian Mann. (
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The daylight Manhattan “kidnapping” that ignited a massive NYPD search involving choppers, Emergency Service cops and even commandeering a Columbia University building was just a birthday prank by the victims’ college buddies.
The birthday boy’s six pals hatched the elaborate scheme after they were inspired by the slapstick comedy “Old School.”
“They kept talking about, ‘Let’s do it like the movie ‘Old School!’” said Diana DeJesus, 55, a mother of one of the faux victims.
“It was really very innocent. Then, when it was all over the media, they were shocked.”
DeJesus’ daughter Melody, 29, spearheaded the plan to abduct her boyfriend, Cristian Joe.
The plot was based on a scene in “Old School,” a 2003 Will Ferrell flick, in which unsuspecting fraternity pledges are abducted.
“It was a surprise birthday party,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said of the stunt in Washington Heights — which cost the city thousands of dollars and hundreds of officer hours.
The plan was set in motion when Joe, a software developer who turned 30 March 26, learned that Melody and other pals from St. John’s University were preparing a surprise party for him.
To “throw him off,” DeJesus and five others plotted to snatch Joe and DeJesus off the streets of Washington Heights, where she has an apartment, sources said.
Joe’s investment-banker roommate Hamlet Pena, 29, rented a black 2010 Town and Country minivan, sources said. And the pals rented a house in Lake Harmony, Pa., for the weekend.
At around 7 p.m. Friday, Joe and DeJesus, who was carrying two heavy bags, were walking along Haven Avenue near West 173rd Street when a minivan zoomed up and two men popped out.
They grabbed the couple, threw them into the van, and tossed a pillowcase over Joe’s face before speeding off.
Inside the van were two other plas of Joe — CBS employee Ernesto Martinez and Web analyst Lizette Nieto.
Two terrified girls on the street, ages 9 and 15, heard the screams, watched as the couple disappeared — and then dialed 911.
The NYPD fanned cops out all across upper Manhattan, put a helicopter in the air and took over part of a nearby building housing Columbia University dental students to use as a base.
Police also released a surveillance video showing the abduction, which was picked up by local and national media.
The search continued over the weekend — as Joe and his “kidnappers” cluelessly partied in the Poconos, sources said.
The revelers returned to New York on Sunday night and contacted police when they heard that the video was all over the news.
Cops confirmed their story by checking text messages, e-mails, and conducting polygraph tests.
“It was all pretty exciting. I’m not really willing to talk about it right now,” Joe told The Post after he was released by cops last night. “I’m just going to try to relax for the rest of the day.”
Washington Heights residents were furious.
“It’s reckless, absolutely reckless,” fumed Ivan Delgado, 52. “It’s not just the extra [police] man-hours; it’s the worry that spreads through a neighborhood that creates fear and apprehension.”
Additional reporting by Wilson Dizard, Lorena Mongelli, Kenneth Garger, Jennifer Bain, Lisa Hagen