Kansas authorities have confirmed that a 27-year-old man allegedly tried abducting a little girl earlier this month — but she was able to fight the man off and escaped.
The girl, 8, was on a walk the morning of March 7 when she was approached by the man in Wichita, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly.
The girl, police said, was headed for her grandmother’s restaurant. The man had been following her for several blocks, she claimed.
Police said that Tanner Warren ran up behind the girl and grabbed her by the waist with one hand while placing the other over her face, covering her mouth. She said Warren squeezed his arms, which restricted her ability to breathe.
She said that she tried to scream but couldn’t catch enough of her breath. But the feisty girl wasn’t going with Warren without a fight.
Police claim that the girl struck the man in the stomach, which led him to let go. The girl — identified only as “IR” — ran straight to her grandmother’s restaurant and told her what had happened. The police were called immediately, and officers started searching the immediate area for Warren.
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The girl told police that when Warren pulled up, he simply said “Hey.” Believing it was a friend of her father’s, she responded “Hi.” As they walked, Warren allegedly asked the girl for her name, at which point she realized the man was a stranger.
The girl told Warren she was told not to talk to such people, after which he uttered her name, catching her off guard. She asked him how he knew her name, and he said he guessed.
He also told the little girl that she was pretty, according to court documents.
Police tracked Warren down and he claimed to be “just walking in the area” and denied knowing anything about the young girl. He “wasn’t trying to bother anyone,” he said, and apologized “if I made her feel uncomfortable or anything like that.”
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Added Warren: “She saw me walking and I was just like, I asked her who she was. I wasn’t trying to flirt with her or be uncomfortable. I would never hit on an underage minor.”
Warren is charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted interference with parental custody. He is being held on $40,000 bond, and had a court date scheduled for March 23.
Attorney and plea information for Warren was unavailable at press time.
