13-year-old girl waves 'help me' note, leading to arrest of kidnapping suspect from North Texas
Federal authorities arrested a North Texas man in California who is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Investigators said Steve Sablan, of Cleburne, which is located south of Fort Worth, kidnapped the girl at gunpoint in San Antonio earlier this month, before taking her cross country to California, where the girl was eventually rescued three days later.
The girl made a sign that said, "Help Me!" and flashed it from inside the suspect's car while he was in a laundromat.
In this undated photo released by the U.S Department of Justice is a "Help Me!" sign used by a 13-year-old girl kidnapped in Texas. The girl was rescued in Southern California on July 9, 2023, when passersby saw her hold up the sign in a parked car,
A good Samaritan saw it and called 911.
The 13-year-old girl ran away from home the same day she was kidnapped, according to federal investigators, who also said they do not have any evidence that the girl and 61-year-old Sablan communicated before he kidnapped her.
"This child would not have been recovered without the acts of the Good Samaritans involved," said Chelsea Norell, deputy chief for the Violence and Organized Crime Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Central District of California.
Two-words: "Help Me," written on a piece of paper led to the rescue of the girl.
The teen was kidnapped, repeatedly sexually assaulted, and found more than 1,300 miles away, at a laundromat in Long Beach, according to federal investigators.
[REPORTER: "Is it safe to say she thought her life was in danger?"]
"Absolutely," Norell said.
Sablan is indicted on federal charges of kidnapping and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
The girl was a runaway who was walking down a street on July 6 in San Antonio.
"He pulled up alongside of her and brandished what appeared to be a firearm and told her to get in the car or he was going to hurt her. Fearful for her life, she got in the car and he started to drive," Norell said.
The 13-year-old told Sablan she ran away from home in hopes of traveling to see a friend in Australia, according to the criminal complaint.
It alleges Sablan told her he would take her on a cruise to Australia. Instead, he drove her across several states.
"And he sexually assaulted her multiple times along the way," Norell said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said the girl, quite literally, wrote for help while Sablan was in a laundromat on July 9.
"She had the great foresight to see that as an opportunity to escape from her abductor, so she took a small piece of paper and she wrote in red letters, ‘Help Me!’" Norell said.
She held the paper up to the window while inside Sablan’s car.
Several Good Samaritans responded and called police.
"There’s a girl inside the car. I think she needs help," laundromat employee Touch Vong recalled.
"I saw her expression on her face and she’s, she was telling me, ‘Help Me!’ And then I turned around and told my boyfriend, I think that little girly said help me," laundromat customer Francilla Issac said.
When Long Beach officers arrived, Sablan was standing outside the car, and they reported seeing the girl mouth the word "help."
"Our cases are often built on the courage of people who stop and actually do something," Norell said.
The girl pointed police to Sablan’s gun in the car. It turned out to be a BB gun, but investigators also found a switch blade and handcuffs.
"If you are a citizen out in the world and you see a child who appears to be in distress, say something," Norell said.
Sablan’s first court date is scheduled for July 31.
He was actually wanted by Fort Worth police for an assault call one day prior to the alleged kidnapping.
A woman claimed she found Sablan in her garage. She reported he pointed a gun at her and ran away.