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A North Philly man turned himself in less than 24 hours after video surveillance was released of his alleged attempted abduction of a Whitman girl.
“This defendant knew he could not keep walking the streets — that people were going to come get him,” District Attorney Seth R. Williams said July 19 at a press conference at Police Headquarters, 750 Race St.
Carlos Figueroa-Fagot, 33, of North Philly, turned himself in July 19 — a day after police released business and residential surveillance footage that caught varying aspects of the incident from three vantage points in Whitman where a 10-year-old girl was almost kidnapped July 17.
“I will tell you. It is ripping to say the least,” Capt. John Darby of the Special Victims Unit said of the video. “It is disturbing.”
A 10-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother walked less than two blocks from their home to a corner store at Second and Porter street to purchase some water ice at about 3:50 p.m. July 17, police said. They headed home traveling east on the 100 block of Porter Street when a white Mitsubishi sedan passed them and parked near Lee Street.
The children headed north on the 2400 block of South Lee Street as Figueroa-Fagot allegedly exited his vehicle, walked up behind the siblings and picked up the girl with one hand while the other hand covered her mouth. She struggled, which is believed to have caused him to drop her. He supposedly tried to pick her up once more, but the boy started to scream.
“Ultimately, the scream from this little boy, by her account she says, ‘The child literally screams louder than anything I ever heard before,’” Darby said. “He literally interrupts this assault.”
Figueroa-Fagot allegedly fled back to his car, which headed eastbound toward Swanson Street, police said. The girl fled northbound on Lee, but retreated to retrieve her brother before heading home to inform her mother of the incident.
“This could have turned out to be very, very bad had he been successful at getting that girl and throwing her in the car,” Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said prior to Figueroa-Fagot’s capture. “If you pay close attention, he doesn’t close his car door when he gets out. He had every intention of bringing her back to that car.”
Figueroa-Fagot was charged with attempted kidnapping for ransom, unlawful restraint, indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, corruption of a minor, interference with the custody of children, simple assault, false imprisonment and unlawful contact with a minor, according to court records.
He is being held without bail, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He will return to court for his preliminary hearing Aug. 7.
In the early-2000s, he had prior arrests in Puerto Rico, but none of those involved sexual assaults, Williams said. He was accused of indecently assaulting a young, female relative in February 2011, for which he was charged with firearm violations, unlawful contact with minors, indecent assault, indecent exposure, terroristic threats, corruption of minors, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. However, all but the latter four charges were withdrawn and he was released from prison on a $50,000 bond in the spring of ’11, according to court records.
The young girl and her mother claimed they had made the incident up and the remaining charges were withdrawn in July of ’11, Williams said.
Prior to the alleged offender turning himself in, the City posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
“Our children must be able to walk around their own neighborhood without lowlifes like this individual coming up, grabbing them, touching them or doing anything else,” Mayor Michael Nutter said. “It’s completely unacceptable. It’s totally outrageous.”
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Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Also in this week’s Police Report:
Deadly discord
Forced entry
Troublesome trespassing
Spotted in Point Breeze
Scare tactics
Morning mugging
Double teamed
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