Man who promised boys money for yard work accused of kidnapping

He appeared to be a landscaper looking for helpers, but investigators say Osvaldo Vicente wanted boys for something else.

The incident that led to the arrest of Vicente, 52, started about 10 a.m. on July 6 in

Lake Worth Beach, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

Two brothers, 14 and 12, were walking to the Lake Worth Beach Public Library on M Street when a man standing outside of a cellphone store offered the older boy “some bucks” to help him cut grass and pick up trash at a location about a block away, the report said.

Twice before in recent months the same man had made a similar offer but was turned down, according to the report.

This time, both boys wanted to do the work, but the man later identified as Vicente said he could only take one of them — so the older boy got into the truck’s front seat.

According to the report, Vicente told the teen “he was going to be his personal friend and he was going to buy him a phone.”

When the truck began heading for Interstate 95 instead of the nearby destination, the boy became concerned and asked where they were going. Vicente said he needed to drive to his house “because he needed to change his clothes.”

While driving, Vicente began groping the teen, touching him inappropriately and saying “he was cute,” the arrest report said. He also unzipped his own shorts and told the boy to touch his private parts or he would not bring him back home.

When Vicente got off I-95 at Atlantic Avenue and stopped at a traffic light at Congress Avenue, the teen was able to unlock the truck’s door, run into a Chevron gas station and ask the clerk to call 911.

During the investigation, detectives from the Special Victims Unit were able to identify Vicente as a suspect after speaking with the teen and getting surveillance video from multiple locations.

Vicente, of Lake Worth Beach, was booked into Palm Beach County’s jail recently on charges that include kidnapping and lewd and lascivious behavior, records show.

He is being held without bond. The sheriff’s office says it appears Vicente’s motive is to lure boys to earn cash for “work” and asks anyone who thinks they have been victimized to call Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers at 800-458-8477.

Vicente