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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Modesto teenager is being hailed as a hero after stopping a man from grabbing her 8-year-old neighbor in what police called a would-be kidnapping.
Marisa Martinez, 13, told KCRA 3 that she was outside playing basketball on April 14 when she saw a man trying to break into a house. When she questioned the man, he began to walk away and grabbed her 8-year-old neighbor boy.
"I was really scared," Martinez said. "But, my instinct was to go and help him."
The child's name has been withheld for safety reasons.
"He got me by my shirt," the boy said of the would-be kidnapper. "When I was playing basketball, (the) ball went over the fence. When I went to get it, he picked me up. So, my friends had to pull me."
The boy tried to break the hold of the man, later identified as John Otis Jenkins, 32, but Jenkins was too strong. However, Martinez put up a fight to prevent the kidnapping and alerted her mother.
"The dude picks him up and grabs him," Martinez said. "I ran as fast as I can, tried to grab him, and started screaming for my mom."
Jenkins ran away after Martinez began screaming, and Modesto City Police later cornered him in at a local church and made the arrest.
Police said that Martinez saved the little boy.
"I'm really proud of her," said Kristen Martinez, Marisa's mother.
Jenkins' charges include kidnapping, and annoying or molesting a child. Police also discovered that Jenkins is a registered sex offender.
