A 29-year-old man has been arrested for luring and trying to kidnap an 11-year-old girl off of a New Jersey street, according to a report in NBC News. Raquan Folk was charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree luring a child, and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child via sexual conduct, the outlet quoted the prosecutor's office as saying. The official release stated that he "was taken into custody without incident". The incident took place at 5.30pm on May 30 in the city of Asbury Park.
The girl was walking on the street when Folk pulled up in a white Kia and convinced her to get inside. He then drove to Neptune Township, stopped the vehicle, and told the girl to undress, as per a joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Bureau and the Asbury Park Police Department.
The girl, meanwhile, asked him if she could use the bathroom, Newsweek said in a report. Folk then took the 11-year-old to a nearby service station.
After getting off the vehicle, the girl fled on foot and later "flagged down a passerby", the outlet further said.
Folk was arrested on Thursday. Since the girl was under the age of 16, the kidnapping charge alone could result in a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
In another similar incident, a 13-year-old boy in Michigan was able to stop a kidnapping attempt by using a slingshot. The teenager saw a man grabbing his 8-year-old sister from the family's backyard, when she was looking for mushrooms.
The boy fired on the stranger with slingshot, hitting him in the head and chest. While the boy's sister broke free from the man's grasp, he fled the scene.
