A 13-year-old girl who had been kidnapped in Texas was rescued in Long Beach, California thanks to a “help me” sign she held up to the window while sitting in a parked car. Passersby noticed the sign and informed police, who rescued her on July 9. Officers are said to have arrived to find a “visibly emotional and distressed girl,” according to a police report.
“Through their investigation, officers learned the Good Samaritans were in a parking lot when they saw the victim in a parked vehicle holding up a piece of paper with ‘help me’ written on it. They acknowledged the note and immediately called 9-1-1,” police said in a statement, via The Guardian.
Soon after the girl was rescued, 61-year-old Steven Robert Sablan of Cleburne, Texas was arrested and indicted on federal charges of kidnapping and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles said.
The girl was at a bus stop in San Antonio, Texas on July 6 when the man approached her, pointed a gun at her, and forced her into the vehicle. He is said to have told the girl, “If you don’t get in the car with me, I am going to hurt you.” Terrified that she was going to be shot and/or killed, she got into the car.
Sablan is said to have repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim throughout the journey to California. Police are said to have found a replica firearm in Sablan’s car during a search. It was while Sablan went into a laundromat to wash clothes and ask for restaurant recommendations that the girl held up her sign and was ultimately rescued.
The girl was handed over to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and will hopefully be reunited with her family soon. Let’s also hope Steven Robert Sablan rots in prison for the rest of his life and that he has a very miserable time there.
