Parents confront suspect trying to snatch kids from a park weeks after she ‘tried to grab a 4-year-old in a Target’
The woman was previously arrested in February on kidnapping charges and released in May
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Angry parents confronted a woman reportedly trying to snatch kids from a Los Angeles park - just weeks after she was released while facing allegations of trying to kidnap a 4-year-old from a Target.
Yara Vanessa Pineda was arrested at Seoul International Park Tuesday afternoon by the LAPD. Witnesses told officers she had approached kids at the park and tried to take them before their parents stopped the 27-year-old, local outlet KTLA reports.
Witnesses also saw Pineda fighting with the parents who confronted her.
Officers arrested Pineda after using a Taser to subdue her, KTLA reports. She is now being held in a Los Angeles jail on a $1.35 million bond, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
Anwar, a child who witnessed the incident, told KTLA she was “picking up little kids and the kids were running from her.”
“They got scared,” he told the outlet. “She was catching them and running away with them. She asked me for candy and I said, ‘No!’ and I ran away.”
The young boy told KTLA she tried to grab his sister before pushing her to the ground. His parents called the police following the incident.
Pineda was arrested in February after police say she tried to kidnap a four-year-old from a Westlake, California, Target.
The boy’s parents said Ms Pineda grabbed the boy from behind and tried to take him out of the store, KTLA reports. She put him down only after his parents confronted her. Police say Pineda fled after the incident, but was arrested after a tipster spotted her on the street. She was charged and initially held on $1.25 million bail.
Police records indicate she was released on 17 May, citing the reason as “rehab.”