Alleged kidnapper leaves child at police station

WKMG 6
March 22, 2001

POLICE SEARCH FOR ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION SUSPECT

A man allegedly attempted to abduct two children Wednesday from a car in the parking lot of a Longwood church, according to WKMG News.

The mother of the girls, ages 3 and 8, pulled into the church parking lot on North Street, ran inside and left the children in the car, according to Longwood police.

A white male with a beard, wearing dark clothes and a baseball hat approached the car and told the girls that their father had sent him to pick them up. The suspect reached through a car window and tried to unlock the door, but the girls started screaming and he fled, according to police.

The mother came out of the church building and found her children crying hysterically, according to officials. They told her what happened, and she called 911.

Longwood police conducted a search with the K-9 unit and the Seminole County helicopter and discovered a suspect on North Street who matched the description given by the girls.

ON THEIR OWN; PARENTS OF CHILDREN LEFT UNSUPERVISED IN MALLS, STORES, LIBRARIES AND CARS ARE COURTING DISASTER

You know you shouldn't do it, but what the heck. Your 5-year-old will be fine in the car while you run into the dry cleaners to pick up your clothes.

The scenario seems innocent enough, and chances are, this parent will return to the same smiling preschooler she left a few minutes earlier. Then again, she may not.

In the time that a child is left alone, he could be abducted or - as in the case of a child left unattended at a casino arcade for several hours in Las Vegas last month - sexually assaulted and killed.

When left alone in a car, the child risks suffocating from heat, choking on a toy or finding a weapon that may be hidden under a seat or in the glove compartment.

The issue of leaving kids unattended sparked a wave of controversy last month when the Danish parents of a toddler were arrested in New York for leaving their child in a stroller outside the restaurant where they were dining.

While such acts may be considered routine in Denmark - where child kidnappings are rare and other violent crimes minimal - they are considered life threatening in the United States.

Louisiana law prohibits a parent or legal guardian from leaving a minor under 10 without adult supervision. Offenders can go to jail for up to a year and be fined $1,000.

Lt. Marlon Defillo of the New Orleans Police Department wouldn't go so far as to call it an epidemic, but he said authorities are frequently called out to investigate such incidents - and in some cases, arrests are made.

While home-alone cases make up the bulk of complaints and arrests, authorities often hear from security guards or concerned citizens about children unattended in cars.

Just last week, the father of a toddler was booked with criminal child neglect after someone notified authorities of a 1-year-old girl left alone in a parked car Uptown. The girl was in the car for 15 to 20 minutes with the windows up and the doors locked. She was not hurt.
Two summers ago, a downtown parking attendant was checking one of his lots when he saw three children, ages 4, 6 and 7, locked inside a car. Each was soaked with sweat and had been sitting in the car for an hour as the temperature outside neared 90 degrees and the air inside the car heated into triple digits.

The children were treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration, and the family friend who left them alone was booked with child neglect.

Earlier this year, a 2-year-old New Orleans boy died of brain damage after being locked in a van for four hours while his baby sitter played video poker.

Authorities said the temperature inside the car had reached more than 107 degrees. The sitter was booked with negligent homicide, cruelty to a juvenile and criminal desertion of a juvenile.

Such incidents anger but do not shock Peter Banks, director of outreach for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Previously, Banks worked in the child abuse unit of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.

"Even on cloudy days the temperature in a car can get very high, and the opportunity for a child to suffer brain damage is absolutely incredible," he said.

"That's not to say that someone won't try to steal the car with the child in it. That happens frequently."

It happened in Kenner nearly three years ago when a 13-year-old girl was kidnapped from a convenience store while waiting in the family car as her mother paid for gas.

With the keys left in the car, the abductor drove the girl to a wooded area, where he beat, raped and shot her. She survived. Her attacker was arrested and later convicted of attempted first degree murder and aggravated rape.

But cars are not the only places where children are often left unsupervised. Libraries, toy stores and bookshops have become havens for children whose parents have errands to run or need some time to themselves, Banks said.
"They leave the child for hours at a time. That is neglect, and it tells the child that the parent doesn't care about him."

But Banks said the real danger occurs when unattended children begin seeking out companionship - or as in the Las Vegas case - when a predator seeks them out.

"Children are so vulnerable," he said. "They are so easily led. Many of them don't have a perception of what's right and what's wrong."

Librarians and retailers agree, and while they like to think of their places of business as protected environments, they can't guarantee complete safety.

"We want children to feel welcome at the library - that is our mission," said Mary desBordes, director of branch services for the New Orleans Public Library.

"But it's a public place, and anyone can walk in and take a child. It's not as controlled as some parents think. And if it's a busy time, the staff can't be expected to know everything that's going on."

Earlier this year, the board of directors passed a policy prohibiting parents from leaving children under 7 alone in the library.

And while the policy states that the library cannot take responsibility for unattended children, it does provide for safety measures for kids 13 and under who are still alone at closing time.

The St. Tammany Parish Library adopted even stricter guidelines this year. Although it has long required that children 9 and younger be accompanied by someone 16 or older, the policy now specifies that law officers will be summoned if the parents or chaperones of an unattended child cannot be located in the building.

"We've had an incident or two where parents dropped off a very young child for a program and left a child under 9 to care for that child," said Ann Davis, children's services coordinator for St. Tammany Parish Library.

"Most kids that age are into their own adventures and feel they shouldn't be straddled with the responsibility of caring for a younger child."

Bookstores - particularly those with children's areas, story hours and reading tables - have also seen their share of unattended children.

Sometimes, parents drop their kids off in the children's section, while they browse in another. But Jan Clifford, spokesman for Barnes & Noble, said even that is cause for concern.

"There are so many people who come through the store, and we're concerned that a child can disappear in minutes," she said.

At Books-A-Million in Oakwood Center, Barbara Brown said, "We have kids' events, and we don't mind if parents go to the (book store) coffee shop or browse during the event - as long as the kids are old enough to know not to walk out of the store or walk out with a stranger."

Both Brown and Clifford said their staffs do try to keep their eyes on children but babysitting is not their primary role.

"It is more of a concern than it is a problem," Clifford said of unattended children. "We try to keep the parents and children together whenever we can."