A 13-year-old girl kidnapped in Texas was rescued in a Long Beach laundromat thanks to a keen-eyed and quick-thinking customer. Darsha Philips reports July 20, 2023.
A girl kidnapped in Texas on July 6 was rescued three days later in Long Beach, California after waving a “Help Me” sign while inside her kidnapper’s vehicle.
Long Beach police credited the rescue to the quick thinking of a good samaritan and the girl, who tried to get help any way she could.
Police said the 13-year-old victim scribbled the words “Help Me” in red letters on a crumbled piece of paper and held the sign when she was inside a car in the parking lot of a laundromat. That sign caught the attention of the right person.
“She (the good Samaritan) is my customer,” said Touch Vong at Easy Wash Laundromat. "She always comes to wash here, and she came and told me the girl in the car needed help."
Vong said her customer went back outside and called 911.
Police said the man who kidnapped the girl was in the laundromat doing laundry. Vong said he brought the girl inside at one point that morning.
Vong said she got a bad feeling when she saw the man with the young girl.
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“He looked down to me," said Vong of the man she described as scary, and immediately thought something was not right.
After the customer called police, officers arrested him, identifying him as 61-year-old Steven Robert Sablan of Cleburne, Texas.
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According to a federal indictment, the girl was walking in San Antonio on July 6 when she was approached by a man in a silver-colored Nissan.
The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Sablan, raised a black handgun and told her if she didn’t get in the car with him, he was going to hurt her.
The indictment says Sablan drove the 13-year-old from San Antonio to Long Beach, sexually assaulting her several times along the way.
When the good samaritan called 911, responding officers found a black BB gun and handcuffs in the car.
“I’m shocked, but happy because the police rescued her,” Vong said.
Sablan was charged with kidnapping and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. His arraignment is set for Monday, July 31.
