Suspect arrested in girl’s abduction
12-year-old says she was attacked while walking to bus stop
A 52-year-old man was arrested and charged with kidnapping Monday after police say he grabbed a preteen girl walking in the neighborhood near Broadway and Avenida Cesar Chavez SE, attacked her, and punched her in the head.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, a 12-year-old girl told police she was going to the bus stop on William and Romana SE Monday morning when a man, later identified as Armando Chavez, started following her.
“(The girl) told me she was walking to her bus stop when a male subject grabbed her by the hand,” the officer wrote in the complaint. “(The girl) advised she was
afraid of the male subject so she attempted to get away from him but was unable to due to him overpowering her.”
Chavez then held the girl around the waist from behind and rubbed his hand over her, groping her, and she said she was afraid he was going to rape her, according to the complaint.
The girl told police as she was trying to get away from Chavez he punched her in the head.
“(The girl) advised she was able to get away from the male and ran into the backyard of the first house she saw,” the officer wrote in the complaint. “She called her mother and told her she was attacked.”
The mother called the police and officers searched the area for the offender. They saw Chavez at the nearby intersection of Broadway and Gibson SE and the girl identified him as the man who had assaulted her, according to the complaint.
Chavez requested an attorney for his interview with detectives and then he was booked into the county jail. The District Attorney’s Office has filed a motion asking Chavez to be held in jail until his trial.
A hearing will be held on the matter in the next couple of days. It’s unclear from online court records who Chavez’s attorney is.