A Texas man pleaded guilty to the kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl in San Antonio, Texas, that was rescued in Southern California after a passerby saw her hold up a sign in a parked car that said, “Help me!”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California reported that the Texas man who pleaded guilty was 62-year-old Steven Robert Sablan of Cleburne, Texas.
An FBI agent investigating the case detailed in the affidavit that Sablan saw the 13-year-old walking down the street near a bus stop in San Antonio, raised a handgun and ordered her in the front passenger seat of his car.
The Department of Justice reported that Sablan told the girl, “If you don’t get in the car with me, I am going to hurt you.”
“According to his plea agreement, on July 6, 2023, in San Antonio, Sablan abducted the victim, held her, and transported her in his gray Nissan Sentra to Long Beach, California. The victim told Sablan she was 13 years old. During this ordeal, Sablan used a firearm to threaten and control the victim.” the press release detailed.
Sablan admitted in the plea agreement that he sexually assaulted the victim during the journey from Texas to California and had no legal custody or familial relationship to the victim.
On the morning of July 9, Sablan parked the car in the parking lot of a laundromat and went inside to wash their clothes.
“While Sablan was in the laundromat, the victim stayed in the car and wrote ‘Help me!’ on a piece of paper to try and get someone’s attention,” the DOJ press release said.
Court documents detailed that a passerby saw the note and called police, who arrived to see Sablan standing outside the car “and saw the victim — who mouthed the word ‘help’ — inside the car.”
Sablan has been in federal custody since July 2023, according to ABC News.
“United States District Judge Fernando L. Aenelle-Rocha scheduled an October 25 sentencing hearing, at which time Sablan will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment,” the press release further detailed.
The Long Beach Police Department, in partnership with the FBI, investigated the case with assistance from the Cleburne Police Department.