People Who Care Join Forces to Find Abducted Children!This is a picture Jimmy painted when he was in fourth grade. It is a self-portrait of Jimmy, with the sun behind his head. It shows two of his friends that were in his class, Nancy, who sat in the chair next to him, and Ricardo, who was in the enrichment program with him.As you can see, he noticed they were different from him in sex and race, but he did not see those differences as making them less than him. He respected them for what they did well: Nancy was very good in art, and Ricardo was good in math. He loved them because they were good people and were friendly to him. They were part of his happy world full of bright colors.While Jimmy was missing, people of many nationalities, races, and socio-economic levels helped search the miles around Jimmy's home filled with sharp sawgrass in the September, Florida heat An artist took time off from work to paint Jimmy's picture on a billboard a business in the community loaned. Big burly truck-drivers stopped by on their way up the east coast to pick up posters to put up at rest stops along the way. Tough-looking motorcycle riders coming from meets in Key West stopped to pick up posters to hang in towns across the country as they returned home. Everyone who saw Jimmy's parents on television realized how afraid they were for the safety of the child they loved so much. Imagining how they would feel if their children, their little brothers or sisters, their nieces and nephews were kidnapped by sexual predators, they adopted Jimmy Ryce and searched for him and prayed for his safe return as if he were their own. Sometimes families joined hands with Jimmy's parents in their front yard and prayed for Jimmy's safe return in a language Jimmy's parents did not understand.
After a handyman, who came from Cuba in 1991 on a raft, was arrested for kidnapping, sodomizing, and shooting Jimmy, many Cuban-Americans came to Jimmy's parents and said “we are so sorry he is one of us.”
Jimmy's mother Claudine told them, "no Anglos apologized when it was discovered Ted Bundy killed a number of young women, some of whom were Hispanic; no one apologized when an Anglo took from Michigan two little Mexican boys who were recovered in New Orleans. It is time to stop thinking of people of our own race, national origin, or religion as “one of us.” The real division in mankind is between those people who chose to hurt others and those who want to help one another. Those that are 'one of us' share our love of children and believe children have a right to grow up and a right to grown up unmolested."
Jimmy's mother Claudine believes that adults who were abused as children are free, like all humans, to decide whether they are going to go out and abuse children to get back for their having been abused or whether they are going to help abused children because they know the pain and humiliation they suffer.
Claudine believes only those with severe personality disorders--the pedophile, the psychopath, the sociopath, the sadist--are unable to feel empathy with their victims and unwilling to control their urges to have sex with children.
Immediately calling in a bloodhound team, activating an Amber Alert, and assembling a pre-arranged rapid response search team, which I choose to call a Child Abduction Response Effort/CARE Team are the most powerful search and rescue strategies we can use to find our abducted children and bring them home alive.
For children missing longer than a week, more would be found if everyone would J.I.M.M.Y.--Join In the Manhunt for Missing Youth by "adopting" a kidnapped kid and looking for the child as if he/she were your own.
Of course, it's best to rescue a child from a sexual predator before the child is taken and hurt! Several of Jimmy Ryce's Great Escape Maneuvers, Jim's GEMs, identify ways another person can rescue a child before he is abducted: Be Alert to Surroundings, Jump In and Help Victim Escape, Report Suspicious Activitiy, Jump In and Help Victim Escape.
Every day the media report how people across America recognize predatory behavior and jump in and help the victim escape. Read the true rescues described below to learn from these heroes what predatory behavior looks like and how you can rescue children from sexual predators.
2008In Fresno County, California, a 4-year-old girl was sleeping with other children in a van outside where her family were attending a late Christmas eve gathering. When it was discovered the child was missing, many joined in a groud search of the surrounding area. The child was found naked, battened, half buried, bleeding, and non-responsive in a vineyard near Raisin City not more than 40 minutes after she was buried. The child is in stable condition at the Community Regional Medical Center. 24-year-old Juan Gomez-Jimenez was arrested Christmas Day at the same hospital where he later sought treatment for injuries suffered in an assault unrelated to the girl's disappearance. He was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Although his attorney is trying to block blood being taken for DNA testing to see if it matches that in and on the little girl, it is well known that a rape suspect cannot refuse to have blood taken to see if it matches that in the semen, saliva, and sweat of the predator which remains on the rape victim. Source: The Fresno Bee, fresnobee.com, December 31, 2008, facts reported by John Ellis; Fox KMPH-TV Channel 26, kmph.com, January 5, 2009
In northeast Austin, Texas, a 5-year-old boy was pulled from his mother's car parked in the driveway of his home. His 10-year-old sister called 911 and said one of the men who took her brother had followed her home from school the week before. A statewide Amber Alert was issued. During the canvasing of the neighborhood, a neighbor reported seeing a blue Olds Allero on more than one occasion behaving suspiciously and gave law enforcement the license tag number she had written down. The owner of the car turned out to be a cousin of the boy's father. During the interrogation of the cousin and others eventually arrested for aggravated kidnapping, it came out that 26-year-old Modesto Vences-Garcia believed his cousin owned him money, and the kidnapping for ransom had been planned for weeks, though the boy's sister was initially the target. A neighbor of Vences-Garcia said she had heard a crying child at his house. The boy turned up unharmed 13 hours after being taken. The 1st degree felony of aggravated kidnapping is punishable by 20 years to life.
Source: KVUE-TV, February 11, 2008, facts reported by Melissa McGuire; kvue.com; ksat.com
In the Olney section of Philadelphia, early Monday January 7th, an 8-year-old girl in the school yard of the Lowell Elementary School in the 400 block of Nedro Avenue was lured toward an older-model, purple car by a black man who got out of the car and offered her candy. Her 9-year-old friend saw her getting within grabbing distance of the man and yelled, "Come to me!" The older girl took the younger girl's hand and led her into the school. Inspector Joseph Sullivan credited the older girl's alertness with saving her friend from being abducted: "She knew that something was amiss; she warned the other child and fled from the source of the danger." The children described the man as between 25 and 40 years in age, heavy set, with a beard. The children helped prepare a sketch of the man's face which was released to the media.
Source: CBS HDTV Channel 3, January 7, 2008, facts reported by Walt Hunter; ABC WPVI-TV Channel 6, January 8, 2007
2007In Lorain, Ohio, in the City Center building downtown, December 17th, around 8 in the morning, 34-year-old William Metcalf tried to grab a 6-year-old girl. The teacher bringing the little girl and some other kids to school locked her van doors and honked the horn to attract attention. Teaching assistant Jenny Limpert had just arrived at work when she heard the teacher she worked with screaming something like "don't let him take one of the children." She was about to call the police when she saw him run from the school parking lot into the police station parking lot across the street: "I ran after him, behind him, because I just needed to be able to tell the police where he went because I knew if I didn't watch where he went, we weren't going to get him."
Source: myfoxcleveland.com, December 17, 2007
In Wichita, Kansas, December 10th, a 36-year-old man walked into a middle school, named a girl he said was his daughter, and asked to take her out of school. The man’s name was not on the student’s contact list. Sensing something was suspicious, personnel called the school resource officer. During questioning the man admitted he wanted to take the 14-year-old girl to his house to have sex with her.
Source: The Wichita Eagle, December 12, 2007, facts reported by Stan Finger
In Akron, Ohio, November 17th, around 4 Saturday afternoon, a mother was out walking with her 2-year-old daughter. 36-year-old Jihad Farrakhan picked up the little girl as he passed and started to walk away. The mother struggled with him and got her daughter back and ran to a relative's house where she called the police.
Source: WOIO-TV Channel 19, November 19, 2007
In Union, Missouri, November 16th, around 4:15 in the afternoon, a 7-year-old girl was playing inside the fence separating Highway A from Clearview Elementary School in Union. A man stopped his car and waved at the girl to get her attention and to get her to come through the gate to his car. She started walking toward the car. The playground supervisor for the latch-key program saw what was happening, and he yelled "Stop! Come back here." He called law enforcement on his cell phone and described the car. A 25-year-old man from Union was stopped. At first he did not admit he had stopped near the fence. Then, he said he was waving at a jogger, not the little girl. The playground supervisor said that stretch of the Highway was too dangerous for joggers.
Source: Tri-County Journal, November 27, 2007, facts reported by Danette Thompson
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Thursday, November 8th, a 7-year-old girl was playing outside her Rosepark apartment. A Hispanic man sitting in his car scared her: "He was trying to get me to come over to his car." She ran inside and told her mother. Her mother told police: "I came out to confront the guy and ask him what the heck he wants from my daughter and that's when he tried to push me into the car."
Source: ABC KTVX-TV Channel 4, November 9, 2007, facts reported by Jill Atwood
In Chehalis, Washington, in Lewis County, Tuesday, November 6th, around 1:30 in the afternoon, a 25-year-old father was in the Walmart parking lot pushing his 5-month-old daughter in her infant seat in the cart. 32-year-old Roy B. Goin cut him off and tried to grab the child, saying something like "she is mine." Some by-standers helped the father fight the man off and called the police.
Source: The Chronicle, chronline.com, November 7, 2000, facts reported by Sharyn L. Decker
In Everett, Washington, Detective Larry Cole of the Snohomich County Sheriff's Office is compiling a data base from the two or three cases of attempted luring or suspicious predatory activity reported in the county each month of the school year . He says, "It's important that children and their parents report any attempted luring or suspicious activity to police. It's likely if a person tries it once, they'll try it again." The idea is the quicker law enforcement can find the child, the less hurt the child suffers, and the more likely the predator is still going to be with the child. Having composites of suspects to look for may give just enough edge for law enforcement to save the child and catch the abductor. Here are some of the attempted abductions Cole discovered where kids worked with sketch artists to prepare composites. In Stanwood, May 1st, a man demanded a boy riding a bicycle get into his truck. In Everett, April 25th, a man offered a girl candy to get into his car. In unincorporated Snohomish, April 28th, a man offered three girls candy.
Source: HeraldNet.com, November 6, 2007, facts reported by Diana Hefley
In Indianapolis, Indiana, October 30th, an 11-year-old girl was waiting for her mother to pick her up at her school bus stop. A white man in his 30s stopped and tried to pull her into his dark blue car. When the mother saw what was happening, she jumped in to help, and the man fled.
Source: NBC WTHR-TV Channel 13, November 5, 2007
In Norfolk, Virginia, Monday, October 20th, an 8-year-old girl was watching her sister at band practice on the Granby High School field. 22-year-old Andrew Truelove tried to drag her away. Her sister saw what was happening and ran to free her younger sister, screaming "let my sister go" or something like that. Other members of the band and the football team alerted to what was happening also ran to help. Truelove ran back to his parked car and drove off. With his lawyer he later turned himself in to police. Truelove is a white man, 6 foot 2 inches tall, weighing 260 pounds. On October 23rd, he was arraigned and sent for competency testing.
Source: NBC WAVY-TV Channel 10, October 21, 2007; NBC WAVY-TV Channel 10, October 23, 2007
In Bellingham, Washington, Tuesday evening, October 16th, about 5:30, a 14-year-old girl was out walking. A man in his 30s tried to force her into his white pickup. He drove off when her brothercame to her aid.
Source: Bellingham Herald, October 17, 2007
In Virginia Beach, Virginia, Saturday, October 13th, around 9:30 in the morning, a mother was securing her baby in the child's car seat when her 4-year-old daughter told her that her younger sister was being taken by a stranger. The mother turned around and saw her 2-year-old daughter about 30 yards away holding the hand of a black man and walking away with him. She ran to the child and grabbed at her, but the man said he was going to take the little girl with him. When the mother kicked him, he let the little girl go. She picked up her daughter and fled back to her car.
Source: NBC WAVY-TV Channel 10, October 17, 2007
Friday, October 12th, a 22-year-old mother entered a Long Island, New York supermarket and placed her few-weeks-old baby girl and her carrier in a grocery cart. When the mother turned away to get something, a woman grabbed the cart and started walking off with the baby in the cart. She abandoned the cart and baby and ran out of the store when the mother and store employees caught up with her.
Source: Newsday, Inc., October 17, 2007, facts reported by Michael Frazier
October 9th, around 9 in the evening, in Springdale, Arizona, families and students were watching a Kiwanis League football game between 6th and 7th graders. A 34-year-old man named Danny Sherill took the hand of a 2-year-old toddler and started walking away. A man sitting next to the mother asked if she knew the man. When she said she did not, the child's mother and two men stopped the man from leaving with the child and held him until police arrived. Someone there called the police.
Source: KHBS-TV Channel 40, October 9, 2007
In Vanderburgh County, Indiana, around 9 in the evening, Tuesday, October 2nd, a white man tried to get some kids to get into his van, he said, to help him name a puppy he had inside. At one point in trying to convince them to get into the van, he said he was a police officer so he was "cool and would not hurt them." Somebody called 911, and the Evansville police immediately responded and arrested him.
Source: Courier Press, October 4, 2007, facts reported by Gavin Lesnick
In Vancouver, Washington, Monday, October 1st, around 8:40 in the morning, a 7-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother were walking to school. A Hispanic man grabbed the little girl and started to run off with her, but her brother pushed him, and the man lost his grip on the girl. They ran back to the safety of home, with the man chasing after them.
Source: KPTV Fox Channel 12, Salem News, October 1, 2007
In Frederick, Maryland, September 26th, at 4:50 in the afternoon,a 12-year-old girl was walking to a friend's house. A Hispanic man pulled his car to the curb beside her, rolled down the passenger window, and waved her over. Scared she walked faster. The man sped after her, pulled near her, and again waved for her to get in. She ran the rest of the way to her friend's house and called the police on her cell phone. Several residents restrained 49-year-old Eliberto Reyes until officers arrived and arrested him.
Source: Frederick News Post, September 26, 2007, facts reported by Gina Gallucci
In Indianapolis, Indiana, September 21st, around 6:30 in the morning, a 16-year-old girl and her 17-year-old brother were walking to their school bus stop. A black man came out of the bushes, put a gloved hand over the girl's mouth, and told her to come with him. She wiggled her head free and screamed. Alerted by her scream, her brother who had been walking ahead of her turned back and chased the man away.
Source: NBC WTHR-TV Channel 13, September 21, 2007; WRTV, September 24, 2007
In Travis County, Texas, Thursday, September 20th, around 3 P.M., a 10-year-old girl got off her school bus. A Hispanic man grabbed her hand from behind and jerked her painfully back toward the street and said, "Come with me!" She screamed for help. Her friends pulled her away from the predator. 26-year-old Edgar Gerardo Rodriquex was charged with attempted kidnapping and injury to a child.
Source: KVUE-TV, September 24, 2007, facts reported by Melissa McGuire
In Manassas, Virginia, Friday, September 14th, a 12-year-old girl was walking to a friend's house. A Hispanic man approached her from behind and grabbed the back of her shirt. He said he would take her away where she could not get away. When she argued loudly she would not go, a by-stander confronted the man, and he fled on his bicycle. Later, 19-year-old Jose Sanchez Candelerio was arrested and charged with attempted abduction.
Source: ABC WJLA-TV Channel 7, September 17, 2007
In Newport News, Virginia, Tuesday, September 4th, an 11-year-old got off her school bus. A white man stopped her and asked her if she would help him find his dog. When she refused and ran toward her home, he chased after her until he saw some neighbors out in their yards.
Source: Daily Press, September 6, 2007, facts reported by Lisa Finneran
In Baltimore County, Maryland, September 3, around 2:30 in the morning, a father smelled chemicals coming from his 9-year-old son's bedroom. When he went into the room to investigate, he spotted a white man trying to hide in the wardrobe. When the man ran out of the house, the father gave chase and caught the man and held him until the police arrived. The boy appeared lethargic and confused. Two rags reeking of strong chemicals were found in the room. Source: baltimorecountymd.gov, September 5, 2007
In Boise, Idaho, September 2nd, a 7-year-old girl was walking in her neighborhood between 6 and 7 P.M. A white stranger on the corner near her home somehow persuaded her to walk with him. About 20 neighbors took their flashlights and assisted police in the search. One of the neighbors out looking was a woman 5 foot 4 inches tall, weighing about 100 pounds. Around 11 o’clock, she spotted the man and child in a vacant lot. She said, “I took off running. . . . I had the police officer’s flashlight on my shoulder, and I was the only one that could keep up with him. . . . I didn’t want him to turn around and see that I wasn’t a cop, so I put my foot on the back of his knee and made him kneel down so that he wouldn’t turn around.” Soon other neighbors and police officers caught up and helped detain the man. The neighbor who caught him said, “It didn’t matter what it took. That is why I kept chasing him. I didn’t want the guy out there so he could grab another person’s child.”
Source: CBS KBCI-TV Channel 2, September 3, 2007, facts reported by Callie Zanandrie; KTVC-TV Channel 7, September 4, 2007
In Landis, North Carolina, August 31st, as the high school was letting out, a 19-year-old and a man in his 60s were stopped in the hall by the assistant principal. When asked to identify themselves, they did, and the resource officer took down their names. When their names were not on the contact list for the teenager they said they were looking for, they were asked to leave and were not able to pick up the girl they had named. The teenager said she did not know the men. Law enforcement believes they got her name, picture, school, and information about her being a volleyball player from her MySpace page on the Internet.
Source: WSOC-TV Channel 9, September 4, 2007
In Crowley, Louisiana, August 30th, a 12-year-old girl was walking to school. A man in his mid-20s pulled alongside her and twice asked her to get in his car. She refused, and he left when a neighbor scared him away. When police found him only a few streets away, they discovered he had a gun in his car within grabbing distance.
Source: KATC-TV Channel 3, August 30, 2007
In Malden, Massachsetts, August 15th, around 8 in the evening, a 2-year-old boy wandered out of the house into the driveway. A man got out of a car and beckoned to the boy to come over to his car. Just then the boy's father came out of the house looking for the toddler. The boy's mother said the stranger "was getting out of his car, coming toward my son. My husband could have scared him away because the uniform he was wearing--he's an ATM technician-- so he carries a gun."
Source: ABC WCVB-TV Channel 5; NBC Channel 7, August 16, 2007
In Stafford County, Virginia, Wednesday, August 1st, a mother heard noises coming from her daughter's bedroom. When she walked into the room, a man was in bed with her 14-year-old daughter. When she told him how old her daughter was, he jumped out of the window, breaking the screen. When he chatted with her on the Internet, he had told her he was 28. He had visited her house at least three times and had had intercourse with her at least twice. 32-year-old Jason Frank was arrested Friday, August 10th.
Source: Free Lance-Star, August 16, 2007, facts reported by Keith Epps
In Norfolk, Virginia, Friday, July 20th, around 7 in the evening, a 21-year-old Hampton black woman, named Shameka Patrice Pittman, tried to kidnap a 2-day-old boy from the hospital maternity ward at Sentara Norfolk. Though she was dressed in hospital garb, the many security measures in place resulted in her being spotted and stopped before she could get the baby out of the ward. The staff called police and detained her until the police arrived.
Source: Virginian Pilot, July 21, 2007, facts reported by Steve Stone
In Garland, Texas, Friday, July 13th, a mother was in the yard barbecuing chicken when she heard a young boy crying "help!" She saw a 17-year-old had a 7-year-old down on the ground and was trying to sodomize him. She said, “I stuck him in his butt with my barbeque meat fork. He stood up, and I just punched him in the face.” She called 911, and she and her son held the teenager until the police arrived.
Source: Garland (Texas) P.D.; FOX Channel 4 News, July 17, 2007
In Brookleyn, New York, July 26th, around 7 in the evening, a 9-year-old girl was walking to the family car parked in the parking lot of the New York Aquarium. A black man, in his early 20s with his hair in dread locks, grabbed the girl by the hand and started walking off with her toward a hole in the fence. A bystander stopped him. The girl ran to her family’s car.
Source: CBS Radio 1010 WITS, July 27, 2007
In Dallas, Texas, July 8th, around 7:30 in the evening, an 11-year-old girl and her 3-year-old sister were playing in their grandmother’s yard. A car pulled up next to them. A white man got out and grabbed the oldest sister by the hand and tried to pull her into his car. Two good Samaritans driving by in their truck saw what was happening. They stopped and yelled at the girls in Spanish to run into the house. The predator was distracted enough by the passerbyers for the 11-year-old to break free. She grabbed her little sister and ran into her grandmother’s house.
Source: CBS Channel 11 News; NBC Channel 5, July 18, 2007; Dallas Morning News, July 19, 2007, facts reported by Holly Yan
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 5th, a daycare worker at the Children’s Hospital, where siblings of patients stay, noticed a white woman in her 20s who was not wearing the picture ID badge required. When she saw her pick up a 2-year-old child, she told her to put the little girl down. The woman put the child down and ran from the hospital.
Source: Minneapolis P.D.; KARE-TV Channel 1, July 9, 2007; CBS WCCO-TV Channel 4, July 10, 2007
In Fredericks, Maryland, August 4th, around 10:15 P.M., a woman was waiting in her car for her husband. A 32-year-old intoxicated man tried to unfasten her 1-year-old daughter’s car seat. The mother screamed and pushed the man away. Her husband and several others heard her cry and ran to help her. The man was located several blocks away and was jailed.
Source: CBS WJZ-TV Channel 13, August 5, 2007; Court TV Crime Library, August 10
In dowmtown, Hilo, Hawaii, July 31th, a little after 4 in the afternoon, a man tried to abduct a 4-year-old boy from the men’s restroom. The child’s adult brother from Michigan visiting with his family stepped in to help his brother break free from the man.
Source: The Honolulu Advertizer, August 3, 2007; The Honolulu Advertizer, August 31, 2007
In Menlo Park, California, July 10th, around 3:15 in the afternoon, a teenager was walking home from school. A Hispanic man asked the girl to get into his white truck. The girl told him, “Leave me alone.” He grabbed her hands and began pulling her toward the truck. A man came out of his house and told the wannabe abductor he would call the police if he did not let her go.
Source: Menlo Park P.D.; CBA KPIX-TV Channel 5, July 14, 2000
In Washington, D.C., May 16th, a mother was pushing her one-year-old son in a stroller in the 2100 block of K Street. A black man tried to take the little boy. Another person saw what was happening, intervened, and scared the man off.
Source: NBC Channel 4, May 16, 2007
In Brooklyn, New York, May 13th, around 2:45 in the afternoon, an 11-year-old girl was walking back to her family’s apartment, having gone out to get a Mother’s Day card and some nail polish for her mother. She noticed a 19-year-old boy following her. She ran into the lobby and started up the stairs to her apartment, but he caught her on the second floor. He put his hand over her mouth and told her, “Shhh! Don’t Scream.” Pulling her back down to the lobby, he saw two burly men outside blocking the exit and started to pull her back to the staircase. When he loosened his grip on her wrist, she was able to break free and press all the apartment buzzers and scream for help. A 25-year-old neighbor came down to the lobby, and her brother came in from outside. They waited with her, because they knew when the guy bolted upstairs that he would have to come through the lobby as that was the only exit. The girl yelled, “That’s him!” when he came down in a white T-shirt, having removed his green shirt to try to disguise himself. The girl’s neighbor chased him a block and after a brief scuffle held him down under his knee until the police arrived.
Source: New York Post, May 15, 2007, reported by Tom Liddy and Melissa Kronfeld
In Atlanta, Georgia, May 9th, a 9-year-old boy was walking home from school. A man in a red car drove up beside the third grader and said, “your momma told me to come pick you up and bring you home.” The boy kept walking. When he looked back, he saw the man was still following him. The man stopped alongside the boy again. This time he pointed a gun at the boy. Just then a lady came by and told the man, “ I’m about to call the police.” The man peeled off, and the boy ran home and told his mother what had happened. He later told NBC reporter Catherine Kim, “I’m still with my family. I’m glad the lady saved me.”
Source: NBC Channel 11, May 10, 2007, facts reported by Catherine Kim
In a mall food court in Brandon, Florida, May 8th, a white man was talking to a 2-year-old toddler. When the mother bent over to pick something up from the floor, the man picked the child up and started to leave. The woman wrestled the child away from the man, and the man walked away.
Source: Tampa Bay Channel 10 News, May 11, 2007
In early May, a family was vacationing at a Disney resort in Orlando. At the pool, 11-year-old David heard a man in his early 60s ask his younger sisters some strange questions: “where are your parents?” “do they know you are going down the slide?” David told his father what the man was asking his sisters. About 30 minutes later, David saw the older man walking off with a little girl. David ran after them. He found the man behind some bushes rubbing the little girl’s private area. David raced back to his father and told him what was going on. Four lifeguards held the man until the police got there. Back home in New Hampshire, the boy said, “When I see something really suspicious like that, I want to keep a close eye on what’s happening to make sure a monster is not getting my sisters or other little kids.”
Source: WLTX-TV, May 3, 2007
In Fountain Valley, California, April 28, 2007, around 4:30 in the afternoon, a 10-year-old girl with Downs syndrome was watching her teenage sister playing softball. Her grandfather noticed a Hispanic man in his 30s sitting alone. When the grandfather asked him if he had a relative playing, he said his niece was playing tomorrow. Because the grandfather knew there was no girls softball on Sunday, he surreptitiously snapped the man’s picture. Later, the girl’s family noticed the little girl was no longer playing behind the back stop. An older sister of the little girl rushed to see if she was in the restroom. She saw a Hispanic man leading the child out of the park. When she called out her sister’s name, her little sister stopped, and the Hispanic man disappeared into the crowd.
Source: Orange County Register, May 1, 2007, facts reported by Kimberly Edds
In Sacramento, California, April 23, 2007, around 7:30 in the morning, two second graders were walking together to school. A white man in his 30s offered the children candy if they would get in his red pickup. When the little girl and little boy ignored him and did not come close enough to the truck for him to grab one, he got out of the truck and grabbed the little girl by her sweat shirt. The little boy stomped on the man’s foot and kicked the man. When the man loosened his hold on the girl, both kids ran to their elementary school.
Source: KCRA-TV Channel 3, April 24, 2007
In Dallas, Texas, Tuesday, April 22nd, around 4:10 in the afternoon, an 8-year-old boy was walking home from school. A 46-year-old man approached him from behind and asked his name. The man offered to help him carry his backpack. When he took the backpack on his arm, he grabbed the boy’s right arm and placed his left hand on the boy’s back pushing him toward his car, a black 1996 Nissan Pathfinder. He told the boy he would take him home. A woman saw the white man pushing the black child down the sidewalk and called 911. She then went up to the man and child and asked the man what he was doing. The man said the boy was lost, but the boy shook his head sideways. The man gave the boy his backpack back and tried to leave, but he could not as his car was blocked by the woman’s car. Before the police arrived four more people had stopped to help restrain the man.
Source: CBS Channel 11, April 25, 2007, facts reported by J.D. Miles; Dallas Morning News, April 26, 2007, facts reported by Tanya Eiserer
April 10th in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, a white man in his mid 20s to early 30s was riding a bicycle. He tired to grab a 10-year-old girl, but she screamed and pushed him away. Only minutes later he circled an 11-year-old girl walking home from school. When a neighbor yelled at him, he petaled away.
Source: Jacksonville Channel 4, April 18, 2007
In the evening of March 15th, at a truck stop in Marion County, Florida, an 8-year-old girl was walking out to her grandfather's car with her grandmother. A man in his 40s put his arms around the little girl and tried to carry her off. Her grandfather pulled the man off the child. While the grandfather was scuffling with the man, the grandmother scurried away with the child.
Source: WFTV Channel 9, March 16, 2007
In Kansas City, Missouri, the evening of March 14th, a 5-year-old boy was snatched from in front of his home by a 37-year-old woman. She put her hand over his mouth so he could not continue to scream. The boy’s father had heard his son cry, and he chased after her and was able to pull his son out of her grasp, even though she hit the father several times in the face.
Source: Kansas City Star, March 15, 2007, facts reported by John Shultz
In Beckley, West Virginia, February 27th, two cousins on vacation together were waiting outside the women’s bathroom stall. A man stepped out of the men’s stall and grabbed them by their coats. The 9-and 10-year-olds kicked and screamed, but the man was able to wrap his arms around both of them. The kitchen staff and the woman in the bathroom stall came out to see what all the racket was about. The police were called. The man was arrested with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit.
Source: WVNS-TV, February 27, 2007, facts reported by Kate Krivanek
In Stockton, California, February 21st, around 4:40 in the afternoon, a black man drove up to a 14-year-old girl and asked for her phone number. When she refused, he got out of the black car he was driving and tried to force her inside the car. A passer-byer yelled at the man and told the girl to kick the guy. She kicked him in his genitals, and the passer-byer hit him on the back of the head, knocking him down. Both the girl and the passer-byer ran and called the police.
Source: The Record, February 22, 2007
In Spokane, Washington, Thursday, February 8th, a white man with a mustache got out of a red car and grabbed hold of a 7-year-old boy walking with his 12-year-old sister. The girl was able to pull her brother free, and they ran away.
Source: KXLY-TV Channel 4, February 8, 2007
In Stockton, California, February 4th, around noon, a grandmother was watching her 3-year-old granddaughter walking back from the ice cream truck. She saw an unknown dark-skinned man take her granddaughter by the arm and begin to lead her away. The grandmother raced up, grabbed the child, and ran back into the house to call the police.
Source: Recordnet, February 5, 2007
In Bradenton, Florida, January 10th, around 4:30 in the afternoon, an 8-year-old boy was standing in his front yard. A blond-haired man in his 20s yelled several times, “Come here.” When the boy refused to get any nearer the black Cadillac, the man said, “I know who you are, and I will kill you.” The boy’s grandfather heard what the man said. He and the boy’s father chased the Cadillac in their car until they lost it.
Source: Bradenton Herald, January 10, 2007, facts reported by Robert Napper
In High Point, North Carolina, January 10th, a white man in his 30s walked into a Boys and Girls Club and asked two 10-year-olds to follow him outside. He left when a staff member confronted him.
Source: Fox WGHP-TV Channel 8, January 13, 2007
In Eugene, Oregon, the last weekend in January, a 4-year-old girl’s parents signed her up for ski lessons. When a white man in his 20s or 30s walked up to the little girl and took her hand, the Willamette Pass staff heard her say something like "I don't know you." When they walked up to the man, he left the area.
Source: KGW Channel 8, February 2, 2007, facts reported by David Krough
2006In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, December 24th, a 14-year-old was waiting for her ride outside the movie theater. A white man in his late 30s came up to her and said he was a police officer. He ordered her to put her hands behind her back and tried to put her into his car. When another theater-goer stepped in and told the man to leave the girl alone, the girl got loose and called the police.
Source: Keloland TV, Dec. 25, 2006
In an east Charlotte, North Carolina neighborhood, Saturday afternoon, December 16th, a 3-year-old girl was playing with her 6-year-old cousin and a 6-year-old neighbor. The 6-year-olds noticed a blue van passed several times. When a white woman got out of the van and grabbed the 3-year-old by her clothes to pull her into the van, the two 6-year-olds held onto the younger child’s legs until the woman let go and drove off. The 6-year-old cousin told the 3-year-old’s grandmother what had happened, and she called the police.
Source: SWOC-TV, December 18, 2006
In Columbia, South Carolina, Sunday, December 16th, a family from Augusta, Georgia stopped at a convenience store off I-20. A man in his fifties in a Santa Claus suit was refueling his motorcycle. He called the children over to see the stuffed Rudolph in his sidecar. When the parents next looked, the man was driving away with their 8-year-old daughter in the sidecar. The father jumped in his car and followed the motorcycle, repeatedly flashing his headlights and reaching speeds up to 80 mph. Finally, the man stopped and let the little girl off in a parking lot where the father picked her up.
In Encinitas, California, December 6th, around 7 in the evening, a family was pushing its way through the crowd to watch the Christmas parade. The 6-year-old son was in the lead, followed by his 11-year-old brother and close behind his parents. The 6-year-old boy's hand was suddenly grabbed by a Hispanic man who drug the little boy away. The boy's older brother raced after them and pulled his brother free. Then, the boy's father came up to reclaim his son. Source: North County Times, December 7, 2006
In Stockton, California, November 29, 2006, a black man and woman in their late 20s or 30s demanded cash from a mother who did not understand English. When she did not give them any money, the man grabbed her 2-year-old toddler out of his stroller. A neighbor who saw what was happening intervened and took the child back from the man.
Source: ABC Channel 10, December 3, 2006
In Shelbyville, Tennessee, Saturday night, November 25th, a 14-year-old was in a convenience store when two Hispanic men in their 20s asked her if she needed a ride and wanted to smoke some marijuana. She said, “no.” When she was walking home, a truck stopped beside her, and one of the same men got out of the passenger side and grabbed her by the wrist and tried to pull her into the truck. She snatched her hand away and ran home. The driver of a car who saw what happened followed the truck and got the license plate number. Later that night the two men were arrested.
Source: Shelbyville Times Gazette, Nov 28, 2006, facts reported by David Melson
In San Antonio, Texas, Thursday, November 9th, a repeat sex offender, out on bond for child pornography, enticed a little girl to ride with him. Soon after that, he picked up a prostitute who refused to do anything in front of the little girl. The prostitute got out of the car and flagged down a police car. With her help, the police were able to find the man still driving around in his car, but the little girl was gone. Only the little girl’s jacket and silver bracelet were in the car. Later the same day, departments working together found the little girl and returned her to her home.
Source: KENS5 Eyewitness News, November 9, 2006, facts reported by Brandy Ralston
In Willard, Utah, Wednesday evening, November 1st, around 5:30, a 13-year-old girl was walking home from a friend’s house. A man in his mid-20s grabbed hold of the girl and said, “go with me, or I will hurt you.” When she heard her father calling her name as she was a little late getting home, she screamed. When the man saw her father coming toward them, he let the girl go and ran away.
Source: Desert News Publishing Company, November 2, 2006
In Camden, South Carolina, October 18th, a white man in his 30s stopped his pickup beside two girls, ages 11 and 12, and offered them a ride. Three men painting a church saw what was happening. When they yelled at the man, he got back in his car and drove away. The painters asked the girls if the man had been bothering them. The girls said, “yes” and walked away. When the painters called the police, no one knew whom the victims were. After canvassing the neighborhood, the police located the girls who said the man had repeatedly requested them to take a ride with him, and they had always told him “no,” but they had never thought to report him to the police.
Source: Camden Chronicle Independent, October 23, 2006, facts reported by Martin Cahn
In June, Stephen Lynn Anderson Jones snatched Priscilla Maldonado from her home when the baby was only 4 days old. The baby had just come home from the hospital with her mother the day before. Jones had gained the mother's confidence by pretending to be a nurse from the University Medical Center. A tip after an Amber Alert was issued led law enforcement to find the baby alive, but abandoned on a carport where the temperature was in the triple digits.
Source: Avalanche Journal, October 29, 2007, facts reported by Logan Carver
In Vancouver, Washington, Saturday afternoon, October 14th, two Hispanic men in their 40s drove into a mobile home park off Hwy 99 and lured a 4-year-old girl into their minivan. A neighbor grabbed the little girl off the driver’s lap, and another neighbor called 911. Although the men drove away before the police could get there, they were arrested later.
Source: KOIN-TV News Channel 6, Nov 16, 2006
In Appleton, Wisconsin, September 30th, there was an outdoor concert on the Lawrence University campus celebrating Octoberfest. A mother told a 42-year-old man stroking the head of her 2-year-old toddler to stop and go away. He came back later and took the child’s hand and began walking away. A spectator intervened, and the man was arrested.
Source: Appleton Post-Crescent, November 11 and December 2, 2006
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