ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Police are searching for a man a 13-year-old girl said attempted to kidnap her Saturday morning on South Wymore Road in Altamonte Springs.
The girl's father said she left their apartment and was walking to the other side of the complex to meet family and friends near the pool. Saturday was her birthday and they were there setting up for her party.
"All of the sudden, like 10-15 minutes later, my wife and her come running through the door screaming and crying that a green van passed next to her. The guy got off and grabbed her by the arm and tried to push her inside the thing," said Manny Soltren, the girl's father.
Soltren said his daughter did what he's always told her to do if a stranger ever approached her.
The girl told police the man grabbed her arm and pulled her toward his van. She shook her arm and screamed and was able to break free from his hold and run to her house.
"When she told me about it I got a baseball bat and I got in the car looking for him. And when I came back there were like seven police cars out here," said Soltren.
He said a neighbor was outside washing her car when the man tried to grab his daughter around 12:30 p.m. Saturday. She told the girl's father she saw the van speed out of the complex.
The teen told police the man was Hispanic with a mustache, wearing a red shirt and jeans. She described him as approximately 20-30 years old with short, black, spiky hair. He is said to be tall and have a thin build.
The man was in a newer model, silver minivan with a dent on the passenger side door, toward the middle to rear of the vehicle.
Anyone with any information on this man's identity or whereabouts is asked to call the Altamonte Springs Police Department at 407-339-2441 or CrimeLine at 1-800-423-TIPS.