A Homestead man has been apprehended by police after allegedly attempting to kidnap a 13-year-old girl, authorities say. The suspect, identified as 43-year-old Michael Luprecio, faces charges of attempted child kidnapping and battery following the incident, which took place on Friday morning.
According to WSVN, police arrested Luprecio on Monday after he reportedly tried to abduct the teen while she was out walking her dog in Homestead. The Homestead Police Department indicated that Luprecio was charged with kidnapping a child under the age of 13, and battery. The incident occurred when the girl was returning to her home along Southwest Fourth Street, near Krome Avenue.
As detailed by a Homestead Police Department arrest report and shared by Local 10, the series of events unfolded just after 7 a.m. Luprecio, driving a Chevrolet Tahoe, allegedly parked in the girl's driveway, and pretended to check under the vehicle's hood. When the girl walked past, the report continues, he "aggressively lunged at her, grabbing her by her right wrist and lower buttocks, catching (her) by surprise."
"The victim stated (Luprecio) forcibly pulled her towards him against her will, gripping her wrist, attempting to pull her near his vehicle," the police report catalogs. The teen screamed, managing to escape and alert the authorities from within the safety of her home. The report also mentions that the attempted abduction was recorded by a nearby business's surveillance camera, adding to the evidence against Luprecio.
Subsequent to a stakeout at Luprecio's residence located on the 1200 block of Northwest Ninth Street, police executed their arrest. They observed Luprecio enter the Tahoe, which had an obscured tag and detained him. During interrogation, Luprecio admitted to noticing the victim and stopping to address a car noise, then acknowledged that his actions in "aggressively" closing the hood may have startled the girl. Additional statements made by the suspect to detectives have been redacted from the report. As of Monday morning, Luprecio was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.
