A horrific case of kidnapping and rape was discovered when a good Samaritan noticed a girl who placed a piece of paper asking for help against the window of a car in California.
The harrowing incident unfolded on July 9 outside of a laundromat in Long Beach.
After the good Samaritan called 911, the Long Beach Police Department responded and arrived to find the girl mouthing “help” from inside the Nissan Sentra as a man stood outside.
Police detained the man, who was later identified as Steven Robert Sablan, a 61-year-old man from Cleburne, Texas.
Officers described the girl as “visibly emotional and distressed.” They searched the car and found a black bb gun and handcuffs along with the sign that read “help.”
They questioned the girl and found that she had been missing from San Antonio.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Sablan had approached the girl on July 6 and threatened her with what looked like a black handgun.
“If you don’t get in the car with me, I am going to hurt you,” he allegedly told her.
After she complied out of fear for her life, the man told her that he was going to take her on a cruise ship to Australia. Instead, he allegedly drove her to California against her will and sexually assaulted her at least three times. When they arrived in Long Beach, the man left her in the car in order to wash their clothes at the laundromat.
The man was arrested and booked into the Long Beach City Jail.
Sablan was charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. If found guilty of the charges, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
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