Boy, 11, Fights Off Alleged Kidnapper With Stick
Posted: 12:37 pm EST November 11, 2005Updated: 5:32 pm EST November 11, 2005
SANFORD, Fla. -- A young Seminole County girl is safe thanks to her 11-year-old brother, who used a stick to hit and chase off a would-be abductor. It happened in Sanford as the two were walking to school.
Robert Haworth
Police said this is a difficult case of two children's word against the denial of a 64-year-old man. In the end, investigators said, they had no reason to believe the children were lying about what happened Thursday.The children told police Robert Haworth approached them as they walked to school near the carwash area at the Plantation Lakes Apartments. The children's story was detailed, all the way down to the stick the 11-year-old said he used to whack the man on the head with.Police said the two did everything right."Actually, the brother defended the little sister. Ran away, told adults, school officials and the police and that's how this investigation came about," explained Investigator Chris Serino, Sanford Police Department.Another parent at the apartment complex said she couldn't believe what allegedly happened in broad daylight.
"I'm really surprised. I had no idea this happened. It makes me a little nervous. I don't like to hear things like that. I feel bad for the kid, too," said resident and parent Debbie Alexander.After they ran for help to their nearby elementary school, in separate interviews both children told the same story. They told police Haworth tried to walk away with the girl, holding her hand and telling her he wanted to see how tall she was.Haworth denied touching the girl."He denied any type of physical contact with the children, acknowledged seeing them, but denied any contact at all," Serino said.Police said the arrest came down to whom to believe and the children were more credible."We're duty bound to protect children and, yes, there are tough decisions to make in these kinds of cases, but there was no reason not to believe what the children said as being the truth," Serino said.Haworth told police he lives at the apartment complex, but the apartment manager said he does not have a lease there and was not welcomed back.
The Plantation Lakes Apartments carwash area is where the man attempted to kidnap the girl, according to police.
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