13-year-old Homestead girl speaks out after man tries to abduct her
HOMESTEAD - A 13-year-old girl is speaking out after she and police say a man tried to abduct her last Friday morning.
Candice Ramirez retold CBS News Miami's Peter D'Oench that it was 7:05 a.m. last Friday when she was taking her chihuahua Milo for a walk before school when a man suddenly approached her and tried to abduct her.
She was able to break away from him and run inside her apartment near Krome Avenue and call police. Police are calling her a "superstar" for doing what she did.
Ramirez said "I was walking near the entrance to my home when a man who I thought was just working on a car came up to me. I ignored him because I didn't know him but all of a sudden he tried to grab me and I put Pushed and ran away and I screamed. I was shocked. I ran to my house. I couldn't think of anything else. I was crying and I thought this has never happened to me before. I was just thinking why did this happen? Why did this happen to me? Right now I am feeling a little sick."
"I don't know when I will go back to school," she said. "I need to take some time off for a while. I just want to say to the girls out there, always bring something to defend yourself if a man comes up to you."
Fortunately, she was not injured.
Her mother, Maria Perez Lopez, said she was alarmed.
"I am very very scared," she said. "I see all those cars going by and I wonder what is going to happen. What happens if somebody knocks on my door. I don't want this to happen again. I am thinking of moving."
Homestead Police say 43-year-old Michael Luprecio has been arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping, battery and driving with a suspended license.
Police say they were able to obtain CCTV surveillance video and get information about the vehicle that drove away. They also put out a BOLO for a black Tahoe.
That same day, they say they were able to locate the vehicle and Luprecio.
Captain Fernando Morales said, "I can't say enough about the actions of the officers and the detectives. And the superstar is the victim who did what she had to do to get away and contact police which is what we urge everyone to do."
Police urge others to call them if they were approached by Luprecio.
In court, his defense attorney noted that he was a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy. But the judge said he was charged with attempted kidnapping and battery and Luprecio was held without bond.