Middle schooler escapes alleged kidnapping attempt at Granite Bay bus stop; suspect arrested
GRANITE BAY -- A Northern California middle school girl is safe after a man allegedly tried to kidnap her from a bus stop.
The Placer County Sheriff's office says a middle school student was standing at the stop at the corner of Douglas Boulevard and Quail Oaks Drive in Granite Bay around 8 a.m. Tuesday when a transient man approached her and told her to leave with him.
The girl was able to get away and run home, where she told her parents. Deputies quickly responded and located 38-year-old Joshua Landreth.
He was found about a mile from where the initial incident happened. He did not comply at first, the sheriff's office says, but deputies were eventually able to take him into custody.
Investigators determined that while Landreth never physically touched the student, it still rose to the level of alleged attempted kidnapping.
"Having this kind of activity in this area is not usual. Any sort of report, especially a child trying to be taken, will be taken extremely seriously, deputies responding very quickly," spokeswoman for the sheriff's office Elise Soviar said.
Landreth had a warrant out for his arrest pertaining to a theft. He has since been booked into the Placer County Jail on attempted kidnapping charges.
