A kidnapped 13-year-old girl held up a note saying "Help Me!" when her captor left her inside his car, and good Samaritans phoned 911, authorities said.
A 13-year-old kidnapped girl was rescued after holding up a note that said "Help Me!" as she sat in her captor's parked car, authorities said. A good Samaritan who witnessed the child's plea immediately phoned 911, according to a federal indictment.
Steven Robert Sablan, 61, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges of kidnapping and transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, announced the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
The girl was walking to a bus stop in San Antonio, Texas, on July 6, when Sablan allegedly pulled up in a Nissan Sentra, pointed a gun at her and said, “If you don’t get in the car with me, I am going to hurt you,” according to court documents.
Believing her life was in danger, the child got in the vehicle, federal prosecutors said.
Sablan asked the girl for her name and age, court documents allege. The 13-year-old told him, and said she was trying to get to Australia to visit a friend, authorities said. The man said he could help get her on cruise ship to visit her friend, but she would have to do something for him first, federal prosecutors said.
Over the next few days, Sablan sexually assaulted the girl multiple times, according to court documents, as he drove the child from Texas to California.
On July 9, Sablan drove to a laundromat in Long Beach, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles, and told the girl to change clothes so he could wash their dirty garments, court documents allege.
While the man was inside the laundromat, the girl managed to scrawl "Help Me!" on a scrap of paper and held it up the car window, authorities said.
Someone saw the message and dialed 911, and police arrived to find Sablan standing outside the car with the girl inside, authorities said. She mouthed "help" to the officers, according to federal prosecutors.
Responding Long Beach police officers found handcuffs and a BB handgun that looked like a real semi-automatic weapon, authorities said. The officers also discovered Sablan was wanted in connection with a burglary charge in Fort Worth, authorities said.
The child had been reported missing in San Antonio, police said.
Sablan had previously been convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon in 1979 and robbery and burglary with a deadly weapon in 1985, federal prosecutors said.
He was transferred to the custody of U.S. Marshals and subsequently indicted on the federal charges. He is being held without bond, according to court documents. His arraignment is scheduled for July 31. He has not entered a plea.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to his federal public defender, but has not heard back.
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