13-year-old girl kidnapped, sexually assaulted by man she met on Internet, police say

A 13-year-old Los Angeles girl was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a man she met through MySpace, police said Monday.

Samuel Francisco, 35, was arrested Friday night on suspicion of kidnapping the girl from her middle school the day before, said Lt. Andrea Grossman of the Los Angeles Police Department. Investigators said they also plan to file charges of sexual assault.

The girl vanished around 1:45 p.m. Thursday, according to her mother, who had gone to pick her up from school. The girl had texted her mother that she would be out of school shortly but never appeared. The woman searched for her daughter for hours before turning to police in San Pedro for help, authorities said.

Investigators said they believe Francisco, who had been corresponding with the girl on the MySpace social networking site, showed up at the school and persuaded her to leave with him. With the aid of Secret Service, immigration and customs enforcement agents, police found Francisco and the girl at his apartment in the 500 block of E. 36th Street.

The girl seemed distraught, police said. Francisco had attempted to hide himself under a bundle of clothes in the apartment, said Det. Monica Quijano.

Investigators are looking into whether Francisco may have kidnapped other children in the past.

“Our biggest concern is that there’s other potential victims out there because he was very comfortable doing it," Quijano said. "He actively sought her out, and had no qualms engaging her and enticing her to meet him.”

Francisco was being held on $500,000 bail and was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Long Beach, Quijano said. Anyone with information is asked to call the LAPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit at (562) 624-4028.

-- Amina Khan

Comments

[Kathy]

Where are the parents? Here's a thought, maybe monitor your children's internet use and teach your children not to correspond with strangers. UNBELIEVALBE. Thank God the girl was found alive.

[Jage]

Behead him.

[Gina]

I think that this could have been entirely avoided. The girl shouldn't have been talking to that guy on myspace in the first place. Also, since when does a 13 year old girl that agreed to get in a car with a guy that enticed her equal kidnap? Really? This girl was wrong, she shouldn't have encouraged this guy and I believe that most of this is her fault and that again, it could have been fully avoided if her parents monitered her use of myspace.

[Mr Green]

Probably the mom and dad are both working and can't monitor her internet use properly. She's 13 going on 21 thinking she can handle herself against a grown man and couldn't. Don't talk to strange men on the internet or agree to meet them some where and this what happen. She had to tell him what school she attended in order for him to go and get her.

[Reynaldo]

I think that it's the stup** parents fault for not controlling her daughters control of use of internet. which proves that parents can't control her own daughter. i als believe that it's the girls fault and not the guys fault because she is old enough to know what to do. she is not a child no more. Parents these days can't control their
own children

[WRONG................NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS!!!]

LACK OF COMMUNICATION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PARENTS SHOULD HAVE CHECKED WHO WAS THEIR GIRL TALKING TO. THE GIRL ALSO SHOULD HAVE NEVER TALKED TO AN OLDER GUY....SHE ONLY REQUESTED THIS TO HAPPEN TO HER.

[anthony scorsese]

its a disease today

[Alex Mapleoir]

I am somewhat disgusted by the blame on the 13yo girl and her parents. Anyone- no matter the age- can be lured by such methods. Initial Education, not monitoring internet activity constantly, would have been a better solution.

It's no ones fault but the suspect. The suspect was the one who lured and sickly assaulted her. She's the victim.