SALON

Thursday, Jul 19, 2012 10:15 PM UTC

Arrest made in Pa. kidnapping try caught on video

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Arrest made in Pa. kidnapping try caught on videoCapt. John Darby speaks in view of a booking photo of Carlos Figueroa-Fago during a news conference Thursday, July 19, 2012, in Philadelphia. Police arrested Figueroa-Fago for the attempted kidnapping of a 10-year-old Philadelphia girl that was captured on surveillance video. Authorities say Figueroa-Fago turned himself in to police after being persuaded by his family. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)(Credit: AP)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man suspected of trying to kidnap a 10-year-old girl off a sidewalk near her Philadelphia home was arrested Thursday after widely publicized surveillance video of the attack led him to surrender, authorities said.

Carlos Figueroa-Fagot, 33, was charged with attempted kidnapping, indecent assault and related offenses. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

The chilling video had been broadcast extensively since police released it a day earlier, leading to tips about the suspect’s identity. Police Capt. John Darby said the footage essentially “forced him to come forward.”

“He felt that he could not walk, talk or breathe out there on the streets,” Darby said at a news conference.

The victim, whom Darby described as “a real trouper,” suffered superficial injuries and has been talking with police about what happened.

The attempted abduction late Tuesday afternoon appeared to be completely random, Darby said, although he noted the suspect has had previous encounters with police. Figueroa-Fagot (pronounced fih-guh-ROH’-ah fa-GO’) lives several miles from the girl’s neighborhood in south Philadelphia.

The video shows a man approach the girl from behind in broad daylight as she walks home from a corner store with her toddler brother. The man puts his hand over the girl’s mouth and tries to carry her away, but she struggles and the young boy screams.

“(The victim) said … she’s never heard him scream that loud in the past,” Darby said. “She credits him with interrupting the attack.”

The kidnap try lasts only seconds before the man runs to his car and drives off.

Police also found the white car that they believe the suspect was driving. Authorities said the man followed the children, leaving his car door open with the apparent intention of dragging the girl to the vehicle.

Court records indicate Figueroa-Fagot was charged with sexual offenses against a minor in February 2011 in Philadelphia, which were later dropped. That case involved accusations made by a family member, District Attorney Seth Williams said Thursday. The alleged victim and her mother later told prosecutors they made up the accusations, and officials dropped the charges this month, Williams said.

Figueroa-Fagot had run-ins with police in Puerto Rico, where he previously lived, Darby said. He said none of those — between 2000 and 2006 — involved allegations of sexual assaults.

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

More Kathy Matheson.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
337 points338 points | 107 comments
vote
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government -- "...much of the U.S. economic security support system consists of subsidies for the affluent in the form of tax breaks, like those for private retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and private employer-provided health insurance."
58 points59 points | 3 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
36 points37 points | 3 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
36 points37 points | 2 comments
vote
With the help of Photoshop, artist Yao Lu has made shanshui — traditional ink paintings — of China's landfills
30 points31 points | 1 comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations