Andrew Pio, suspect in attempted kidnapping in Anaheim on March 31, faces life in prison
On Tuesday, the Orange County District Attorney's office announced charges against 30-year-old Andrew Giovanni Pio, of Anaheim, after he attempted to kidnap a 13-year-old girl on March 31 and is also accused of sexually assaulting another teenager in Riverside County.
Pio was arrested following a lengthy pursuit, on April 8, through Orange County.
"A man grabbing an innocent girl off the street and throwing her into a truck in broad daylight is the stuff of every parent's nightmares," District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a press release. "This brave little girl fought with everything she had and that will to survive combined with the bystanders who heard her screams and came to her rescue prevented this nightmare from becoming an even greater tragedy."
The charges against Pio, according to the OCDA's release, include one felony count of kidnapping to commit a sex offense, one felony county of assault of a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense, one felony count of a lewd act on a child, one felony count of second-degree robbery, and one misdemeanor count of evading a peace officer.
In Riverside County, he was also charged sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last November. Senior Deputy District Attorney Karyn Stokke of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting that case.
The OCDA's press release notes that Pio is facing life in prison with the possibility of parole.
