HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A 43-year-old Homestead man is facing a felony charge after he attempted to snatch a teenager while she was walking her dog Friday morning, according to police.
A Homestead Police Department arrest report states that the 13-year-old was walking her dog along Southwest Fourth Street, near Krome Avenue, just after 7 a.m. when she came upon a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by a man later identified as Michael Luprecio.
Luprecio, police said, pulled into the girl’s driveway, opened the SUV’s hood and looked underneath it.
As the girl walked past Luprecio, to her front door, the report states he “aggressively lunged at her, grabbing her by her right wrist and lower buttocks, catching (her) by surprise.”
“The victim stated (Luprecio) forcibly pulled her towards him against her will, gripping her wrist, attempting to pull her near his vehicle,” police wrote. “The victim stated she screamed in fear for her life, and was able to break away and ran inside of her home to call the police.”
The girl, speaking with her mother’s permission, recounted what happened. Local 10 News is not identifying her by name.
“All of a sudden he tried to grab me and I push him and I scream at him and he grabs my lower bottom and I was so shocked,” she said. “I just ran to my house.”
Luprecio then took off, police said. The report states the incident was captured on a nearby business surveillance camera.
Police said they tracked the Tahoe down to Luprecio’s home in the 1200 block of Northwest Ninth Street and conducted a stakeout, pulling him over on an obscured tag after he got into the vehicle and drove away.
The report states that Luprecio told detectives he “admitted to seeing the victim walking her dog and decided to pull over nearby to check a noise coming from his engine” and claimed he “startled” her by “aggressively” closing the hood.
“I don’t feel safe anymore,” the girl told Local 10 News. “As long as I have my mom and my dad, I feel more safer with them.”
Police redacted an additional statement from the report.
Officers took Luprecio to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of attempted child kidnapping and battery.
Facing a Miami-Dade judge Monday, he sought release as he said he is undergoing health issues, including cancer.
But the judge denied him bond. Police said they are looking into Luprecio’s past.
“In these cases, there’s always a possibility that this has been done in the past,” Capt. Fernando Morales, an HPD spokesperson said. “With such ease that he did this, it just gives us a little bit of concern.”
Anyone with information is asked to call HPD.
“I can just imagine him doing that to other women, other girls,” the girl said.