Florida Vape Shop Worker's Job Up in Smoke After Viral Video Shows Her Fighting Off Kidnapper
By Pat Droney
Law Enforcement Today
Jul 23, 2025
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL- A Florida vape shop has fired a female employee who engaged in a desperate fight for her freedom during a kidnapping attempt at a St. Augustine vape shop last month.
Emma Marine, 18, detailed the horrifying ordeal in an interview with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. This incident was captured on surveillance video and made national headlines, according to the St. Johns Citizen.
Despite the ordeal and barely escaping her attacker, Emma was fired from her job at the 206 Smoke Shop, located at 1054 State Road 206 East, St. Augustine, Florida.
On June 29, 2025, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Emma was working at the vape shop and described it as a “normal day.”
The suspect entered the store, used the bathroom, and then left.
He returned a short time later.
“He used the bathroom again. He was only in there like two minutes. He came out, looked around a minute, and then he went behind the counter and just started grabbing stuff and throwing it around and started putting stuff in his pockets,” she said.
Emma said she attempted to keep the suspect, Theodore Tundidor, from leaving the store.
“The entire time I’m asking him to go to the other side of the counter,” she said. “He said he would pay for it,[I] blocked his way out.”
Tundidor then asked her, “What are you going to do about it?” Emma recalled.
“I sort of froze up a little bit,” she said. “And then he pushed me out of the door and put me in a chokehold and dragged me out to the truck and tried shoving me in.
“I just kept fighting back and screaming.”
Emma said the reason she fought back was because she wanted “to keep my job. Because I was worried the boss was going to fire me if I didn’t”
Emma further explained that merchandise had been stolen during a shift her sister was working, and her boss had threatened to fire them if it happened again and deduct the losses from their paychecks.
Emma was asked if she had thought about not fighting back.
“By the time he already had me, I wasn’t thinking straight at all,” she said. “So at that point all I could do was fight back.”
A bystander saw Emma struggling with Tundidor and called 911. In a recording of the 911 call, the witness was heard saying, "There's a lady being attacked…she was screaming at the top of her lungs, and he’s trying to like, like, force her into a car. She ran.”
The witness, Kelly Eason, spoke to a local news outlet and said she believes screams from Emma and her scared Tundidor off.
“He grabbed her again and tried to get her back in the truck, and I believe because she wouldn’t quit fighting, and I was there screaming as well, that he got scared off. I was able to get her into my vehicle, and then we locked ourselves in the Subway until police arrived,” Eason said.
Police located Tundidor a short time later
after attempting a traffic stop for reckless driving. He was charged
with kidnapping, false imprisonment, robbery, and several other charges
in connection with the vape shop incident and subsequent attempted
kidnappping.
He was also driving a truck stolen from a local dealership and was also charged in connection with that theft.
Authorities said Tundidor subsequently confessed to the robbery and attempted kidnapping of Emma.
Lt. Jessica Hines of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, who is also a self-defense instructor, praised Emma’s ability to fight off Tundidor long enough for someone to call for help.
“The suspects know that there’s a ticking
time clock in their brains. They know people are calling. Law
enforcement is going to be coming at some point,” Hines said.
“So you have to fight long enough for the cops to get there or somebody to intervene. So she did phenomenal.”
News4JAX spoke to the store manager last week. He claimed Emma was not fired, but wouldn’t answer any more questions and referred the outlet to the store owner.
For Emma, she has never received any type of
formal personal protection training; however, she said her parents
taught her to always fight back when danger presents itself.
She hopes her story will serve as inspiration for other women who find themselves in the same situation.
“I hope this can show other women and young females like myself that you can fight back, [it] doesn’t matter how small you are,” she said. “Never be quiet, always fight back, no matter what; kick, scream, all of it, it will do justice.”
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