RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A 41-year-old man who tried to snatch a Moreno Valley girl at gunpoint as she walked home from school pleaded guilty today to attempted abduction of a minor.
Arturo Ramirez Cisneros admitted the felony count under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. No charges were dismissed as part of the deal.
Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Kelly scheduled a sentencing hearing for Feb. 27 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Cisneros is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. John Fitzgerald, on the afternoon of Jan.
18, the victim, identified only as a 12-year-old girl, was returning home following classes at Sunnymead Middle School in the 23900 block of Eucalyptus Avenue when Cisneros pulled to the curb in a green Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
“The suspect pointed a handgun at the victim and told her in Spanish, `Get in the truck. I won’t hurt you,”’ Fitzgerald said. “The victim ran away and got help from two civilians who were nearby. She was not injured during the incident.”
The sergeant said Cisneros fled the scene.
Detectives took over the ensuing investigation and ultimately identified the pickup, relying on images captured via security surveillance video cameras.
Fitzgerald said that nine days later, investigators tracked the vehicle and defendant to a property in the 24000 block of Webster Avenue in Moreno Valley, where Cisneros was taken into custody without incident.
He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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