Man who tried to nab O.C. girl, 5, is sought

A man who tried to kidnap a 5-year-old girl from the courtyard of a Mission Viejo condominium complex Tuesday afternoon was scared off by the screams of the girl’s aunt, authorities said.

The girl and her 5-year-old cousin were playing in an enclosed patio area at a complex about 1:20 p.m., when the man walked by the courtyard’s open gate, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Amormino said the man reportedly told the child, who was peering from the gate: “Come here, I want to show you something.”

The girl walked up to the man, who then grabbed her hand, tugging her around a corner to the courtyard of another building in the complex, Amormino said. The patio gates are normally closed and cannot be opened from the outside, Amormino said. The girl’s cousin went to tell the aunt, who was baby-sitting both children, what had happened, and the woman ran outside shouting for the girl.

The man apparently heard the shouting, let go of the child, hid in the patio area and later fled, Amormino said. Both courtyards are surrounded by a roughly 5-foot fence that blocks the interior view. The child went to her aunt and they returned to the condo within minutes of the incident, Amormino said. Authorities do not believe the girl was harmed.

Investigators are checking registered sex offenders in the area and searching door to door in the multi-block condominium complex for the man, Amormino said, adding that they hope to create a composite sketch.

The girl and two witnesses describe the man as a clean-shaven Latino in his 20s with short, dark hair. He was last seen wearing a black shirt and black pants. The girl told authorities she had never seen the man before. The man faces an attempted kidnapping charge, Amormino said, because he briefly had physical control of the girl.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at (714) 628-7170.

--

susannah.rosenblatt @latimes.com