A man was caught on camera reportedly trying to kidnap a toddler in broad daylight after she had wandered off inside a Virginia mall. The little girl was originally left in a popular children’s play area inside Fair Oaks Shopping Centre by her parents on July 18.
After she left the area unsupervised, she caught 26-year-old Andres Caceres Jaldin’s attention, and he approached her. In a viral video, Jaldin can be seen picking the child up and walking away with her.
The little girl appears calm and compliant when he walks out of the camera frame with her. Fortunately, the suspect was caught while he was still inside the mall. Reports say that Jaldin went to the upper level of the mall with the toddler before he was ultimately confronted by her parents.
Jaldin fled the scene but was later detained by police. According to the police, the suspect drove a vehicle he had allegedly stolen earlier that day, and officers were able to track the vehicle to a local motel. He was arrested at the motel without further incident.
While many were shocked by the boldness of the attempted abduction, even more disturbing is the suspect’s troubling history. Local reports revealed that Jaldin has faced over 30 criminal cases in Fairfax County, including recent charges for failing to stop after an accident, assault and battery of a family member, and malicious wounding. Despite the severity of some offences, records show that several charges were not pursued by prosecutors.
Virginians For Safety President Sean Kennedy described the incident as “disturbing,’ saying that someone with such a lengthy and serious criminal background should not be walking around freely. He said, “If this individual is criminally dangerous, then he needs to be in prison. If he’s mentally incompetent, he needs to be committed.”
Jaldin has since been charged with abduction of a minor and grand larceny—auto theft, and remains in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Centre.
