A 38-year-old transient accused of trying to “snatch” a 15-year-old girl in Canyon Country last summer pleaded no contest Tuesday to false imprisonment by violence and misdemeanor child molesting.
Santos Martinez, who was charged with kidnapping, appeared Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court where he entered his plea.
“The defendant pleaded no contest today to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence and misdemeanor child molesting,” Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Tuesday.
Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.
Martinez was arrested in June after an alleged incident that happened on the 18300 block of Soledad Canyon Road, near the intersection of Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road.
“A female, 15, was standing in a parking lot when she was approached by a Hispanic male,” Sgt. Michael Konecny of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal at the time.
“He tried to strike up a conversation with her, asking her for her name and phone number. Then he asked, “Can I kiss you?’ She said, ‘I don’t know you, get away from me.’
“He then grabbed her in a bear hug and dragged her northbound to a parking lot,” Konecny said in June.
He said she then “began screaming for help. She was heard by some bystanders who responded and later directed deputies to where they saw him run.”
Deputies found the suspect in an alleyway behind the Boot Barn store.
“The victim was moved a short distance against her will,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, said at the time of his arrest.
Last month, Martinez appeared in the same court and was ordered to have his mental
competency assessed under 1368 section of the state’s criminal code.
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