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‘I’m forgiving them’: Awaiting sentencing, woman abducted in Virginia Beach is moving forward

Posted at 3:39 PM, Jan 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-18 17:25:59-05

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The man accused of abducting a woman outside of a Sam's Club in Virginia Beach was back in court on Wednesday.

Jorge Zambrana's sentencing was continued, but Ann Wiggins, the woman who had her life changed forever, says he will not go behind bars without hearing what she has to say.

"I wanted to be a strong influence for my children and my grandchildren, that you need to follow through on things, so that's what I'm doing," she says.

A jury convicted Zambrana and another man, Mark Albrecht, for the crime.

Zambrana is accused of pulling out an item that resembled a knife. The two told her to get into the backseat of her own car.

They drove to three ATM's so they could get Wiggins' cash.

"I just felt the lord was telling me to be calm and do what they say," she says.

News 3 asked her if she thought she would ever get out of the car alive.

"No," she says. "Not until I talked to them for a while, I has conversations with them, I got to know them, it's kind of crazy."

Fortunately, Wiggins was dropped back off in the Sam's Club parking lot physically unharmed.

However, she says she went through serious post traumatic stress.

"I reacted terrible to my oldest grandson when he was doing something so innocent and just being a boy, I went into tears or I would yell at him and that's just not me," she says. "I was very fearful going out."

Today, Wiggins says she is just very aware. She says she shares her story often, and had a meeting with a group of high school girls about what they should do when they are out alone.

"I'm forgiving them, I've gotten to that point I'm forgiving them for me because I need to move on, but I'm not saying I'm condoning what they did."

There was not an official date announced for Zambrana's sentencing on Wednesday.

Whenever it is, Wiggins says she will be there.