Home / Crime and Justice / Park Playdate Turns Dangerous: Kidnapping Attempt Foiled
Park Playdate Turns Dangerous: Kidnapping Attempt Foiled
8 Apr
Summary
- Man arrested for attempting to lure a child from a park.
- Bystanders and parent intervened, child was unharmed.
- Suspect apprehended shortly after fleeing the scene.
In Culver City, California, a 57-year-old man, Marlo Jeffrey Hempstead, was arrested on March 30 for allegedly attempting to kidnap a 4-year-old child from Fox Hills Park. The incident occurred shortly before 1 p.m. when Hempstead reportedly approached the child and attempted to lure them away from their parent.
Eyewitnesses, including the child's parent, intervened immediately. The suspect fled the scene on foot, but officers quickly responded and began searching the area. Hempstead was located shortly thereafter inside a vehicle parked in a nearby shopping center structure and taken into custody.
Separately, on March 28, Carlos Corte-Corte, 38, was arrested on Long Island, New York, for allegedly attempting to abduct a 4-year-old girl from a laundromat. He coaxed the child away while her mother was distracted, but the girl was found safe in a nearby library. Corte-Corte, an Ecuadorian national with a history of illegal re-entry into the U.S., faces charges including kidnapping.
