MESQUITE, Texas - A registered sex offender in Mesquite has been charged with kidnapping a young girl.
Mesquite police say they were alerted about an incident involving a young girl who had run away on June 6.
The girl was near Gross Road and Ridgeview Street when a man in a red minivan asked her if she wanted a ride home.
Police say the girl accepted the ride, but the man ignored her directions and instead began driving to Dallas.
During the drive, police say the man tried to touch the child inappropriately, which resulted in a brief struggle and the vehicle coming to a stop on I-20. Police say the man stopped to get the girl out of his car, and she ran away.
Drunken driver sentenced for crash that killed Mesquite family of 3
35-year-old Favian Chavez Garcia, 33-year-old Mayra Pallares and 9-year-old Sofia Garcia of Mesquite were killed.
The girl walked to a Dallas fire station and got help.
Mesquite police were able to locate the suspect’s minivan on traffic surveillance cameras in the area where the child was abducted. They identified as Doyle Tipton, a registered sex offender.
Tipton has been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping.