Alarming video shows a young boy being lured away from outside his Florida home by a stranger promising to buy him a toy — before the youngster’s family found them a mile away and roughed up the accused kidnapper.
Jake Rivera, 6, was playing soccer in front of his Miami-Dade home Saturday afternoon when his 15-year-old brother briefly left him to go inside for a bathroom break, according to NBC Miami.
That’s when Jose Reynaldo Martinez-Reyes, 56, allegedly walked up and offered to play soccer with Jake, with the footage showing them talking and kicking the ball around, the outlet said.
The stranger then put his hand on the boy’s head and led him away by the hand while promising to buy him a toy, according to the video and police.
“The guy came over to me and said, ‘Do you wanna come with me?’ And I said sure,” the little boy told NBC.
Thankfully, Jake’s older brother soon realized he was missing, and raised the alarm with adult relatives who started a frantic search.
They found Martinez-Reyes walking hand-in-hand with Jake about a mile away — just for the suspected kidnapper to claim in Spanish that the boy was his son and try to pull him away, the family said.
But Jake’s “older brother came in, pushed him and punched him just to get his brother back, put him in the car,” their cousin Alfredo Velasquez said.
Then they held down Martinez-Reyes, who cops said had no connection to the boy.
“We have no idea at this point what that subject’s intention was with a 6-year-old boy, but as one can imagine, it probably was not anything good,” Andre Martin, Miami-Dade Police spokesperson, told News 7 Miami.
Martinez-Reyes — who had no ID and wouldn’t talk to cops about the incident — was arrested and charged with one count each of kidnapping and interference with custody. No bond had been set as of Monday.
Family members said Jake is still shaken — and too kind for his own good.
“He doesn’t care who you are. If you are nice with him, he will be nice to you and that was always my fear,” said Velasquez, his cousin.
“It just takes one second or one moment for just anybody to just grab your kid and leave.”
