54° CLOUDY, Windsor man held in attempted kidnap
Last Modified: Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 6:00 a.m.
A 19-year-old Windsor man is in custody at the Sonoma County Jail, suspected of trying to force a Windsor girl into his car after following her as she walked home along Old Redwood Highway, authorities said.
Gerardo Cruz-Pacheco was arrested shortly after the teenage girl and her family reported the incident to authorities Thursday evening, police said.
Cruz-Pacheco had attempted on previous occasions to engage the girl in conversation, but she did not otherwise know him, Police Sgt. Rob Gordon said.
On Thursday evening, he pulled up alongside her as she walked home on Old Redwood Highway, keeping pace with her and trying to persuade her to get in the car, Gordon said.
She went into a Berry's Market to get away from him, but he parked his car and followed her inside, Gordon said.
When she exited, he grabbed her by the backpack she was wearing and tried to get her to come with him, Gordon said.
The girl struggled and got away, running the rest of the way to her Old Redwood Highway home, where a family member saw the man following her, Gordon said.
Authorities, armed with a description of his car, found him driving nearby, and the girl and her relative identified him as the suspect, authorities said.
Cruz-Pacheco was arrested on suspicion of stalking, attempted kidnapping, molesting a child and driving with a suspended license.
He was being held Saturday with bail set at $50,000, county jail personnel said.
You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249
or mary.callahan@
pressdemocrat.com.
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Comments
Only moderator-approved comments are shown on this page. To see all comments, please visit the forum.Post a comment | View all comments on this topic.
October 5, 2008 7:43:27 am
RE: Link
Once she was in the market why didn't she ask the clerk for help or call the police? Instead she walked back out where her stalker was? Parents need to teach their kids what to do in this kind of situation! She's lucky she got away.
October 5, 2008 8:49:43 am
This is the type of thing Barack Obama wanted to have taught to grade school kids - how to identify and avoid sexual predators.
Does that piece of legislation look so offensive now?
October 5, 2008 10:40:56 am
Secure our borders!
October 5, 2008 10:45:46 am
there's a border in Windsor?
October 5, 2008 3:20:44 pm
There is that last name again.Its time to do something people.
October 5, 2008 4:14:11 pm
No, her parents did NOT teach her what do in this kind of a situation because they're probably too stoned or drunk all the time to take a sincere interest in raising their kids. You know, Roe vs. Wade pretty much changed the definitions of all children to "problem". Remember? Liberalism is responsible for the problems that have developed in this society over the last 40 years. 40 years ago, no one locked their doors. 'Free thinking' hippies who wanted to legally kill their 'unwanted' children they conceived during 'free love' sex with strangers have created a society where human life is no longer valued, and children are busy killing children now. No one trusts anyone because "If it feels good do it" meant STEAL from your neighbor and get intoxicated whenever you "feel" like it. Those jackasses raised a generation of selfish, neglected drug-addicted children who are now - when they don't kill their babies - raising the next dysfunctional generation who will likely be more selfish and self-centered than the Liberal grandparents who created this mess.
Don't get me started. Oops...too late...
October 5, 2008 5:46:41 pm
You are so ignorant, on so many levels so hateful, hating everyone who is not like you. What facts do you have to back this up...perhaps a link???? McCain's website doesn't count.
October 5, 2008 6:52:24 pm
Wrong, Granny. I don't hate anyone, like me or not like me. I do see sick agendas from time to time because I don't live there, in Sick Agenda Land, often referred to as Liberalism. If you take issue with anything I've posted, Granny, (you know, the post your responded to?) then tell me specifically what statements I've made that you take issue with. I'd be happy to address them for you. The generic rock you just threw at me, however, isn't specific enough to even respond to.Why don't you start by explaining how Obama's Sex Education for Grade School Children isn't an Introduction to Homosexuality? Oh, and while you're at it, please explain to me why a Kindergartner needs to know about sex, sexual reproduction and homosexuality. Will you start there, oh Granny who loves everyone? I'll wait...
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