Man Arrested in Beating of Girl, 5

Police arrested a Santa Ana man Tuesday in connection with the abduction of a 5-year-girl who was then beaten and choked in a public restroom.

Rafael Nieto Sanchez, 24, was arrested after the little girl spotted his car on the same block where she was abducted. He was taken to Santa Ana City Jail, where he was being held on suspicion of kidnapping and attempted murder. Bail was set at $200,000.

“It was a combination of luck and good police work,” Sgt. Raul Luna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department, said of the 7 p.m. arrest. The child saw Sanchez’s vehicle in a carport as her parents drove her to be interviewed by investigators at the police station, Luna said.

Police Lt. Bob Chavez gave this account of the attack, which happened about 6 p.m. Monday:

The girl was riding her pink bicycle outside the Warwick Square Apartments complex in the 760 block of South Lyon Street when a man driving a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice stopped her. He persuaded her to get into the car with him, and he put her bicycle in the trunk. He then drove three miles to Centennial Park, where he forced the girl into the men’s restroom.

The girl tried to fight him off, but the man put his hand over her mouth and began hitting her in the face. After knocking her to the concrete floor, he began to strangle her.

The man apparently became alarmed that her screams would alert other people, and he fled from the bathroom, leaving the child on the floor. He drove away in his car and was later seen going south on Fairview Street.

Some park-goers who saw the man run from the bathroom heard the child’s screams and found her in the restroom. They alerted a park ranger, who notified police.

Luna said that although the girl was not sexually assaulted, investigators believe that was the man’s intent.

“This guy appears to be a sexual predator,” he said. “We consider him a danger to the community.”

The girl’s throat, neck and face were bruised and swollen, but she suffered no major injuries and required no hospitalization, police said.

Before the arrest, rumors and details of the story were passed from neighbor to neighbor at the apartment complex: “Did you hear what happened?” “I heard he tried to rape her.” “I heard he tried to kill her.”

Residents said the apartments, a group of gated buildings in which 500 families live, have long been a haven where people know one another and neighbors call each other by name. Tuesday they were wondering aloud how a child could have been abducted there.

“This is terrifying. I know no one will have the confidence to let their children go out and play now,” said Erika Martinez, 18, who has a 3-year-old daughter. “The worst thing is that it happened where it’s so populated and so many people are watching.”

Suzy Lopez, 27, who has two children, ages 4 and 5, agreed.

“This is not a safe place for kids to be alone by themselves anymore,” she said. “This makes me feel like I have to take closer care of my little princesses.”

Neighbors said the abducted child’s family began frantically knocking on doors shortly after she disappeared, and called police when nobody knew where she was.

In the center of the complex is a gated pool. Children ride their bikes and skateboards along the pathways around it while parents chat in groups.

Several children may have witnessed the abduction, neighbors said.

“As a mother of a 9-year-old girl, I’m scared,” said Claudia Barron, 26. “You think you’re safe because you’re with all your neighbors, then something like this happens.”