HUNTINGTON PARK (CNS) - A man suspected of trying to kidnap a 6-year-old girl in Huntington Park is behind bars today after being arrested in Escondido, where he was allegedly caught following another child.
Elijah Lopez, 24, was taken into custody in an Escondido commercial area east of the Interstate 15-state Route 78 interchange on Wednesday, San Diego County sheriff's Detective Jonathan Arevalo said.
The deputy who arrested Lopez recognized him from a be-on-the-lookout flier issued by the Los Angeles Police Department following the attempted abduction on Tuesday of a 6-year-old girl who was grabbed by a stranger while walking with her blind father in Huntington Park, according to Arevalo.
Further information about the incident was not immediately available from the LAPD or Huntington Park Police Department.
While the deputy was detaining Lopez in Escondido, a bystander approached the lawman and told him the suspect had just been following a child in a suspicious manner, prompting the girl to run to a nearby grocery store and ask for help, the detective said.
Lopez was booked into county jail in Los Angeles, where he's being held in liey of $150,000 bail.
“LAPD and Escondido police are continuing their investigations,'' Arevalo said.
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