The ‘Help Me!’ sign the 13-year-old girl held up.Photo:U.S. Department of Justice via AP

In this undated photo released by the U.S Department of Justice is a “Help Me!” sign used by a 13-year-old girl kidnapped in Texas. The girl was rescued in Southern California on July 9, 2023, when passersby saw her hold up the sign in a parked car, police said. The rescue occurred in Long Beach when officers responded to a trouble call and found the “visibly emotional and distressed girl,” police said in a press release Thursday, July 20.

U.S. Department of Justice via AP

A Texas man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping a 13-year-old girl who wasrescued after she held up a “Help Me” signwhile in the back of his car.

Steven Robert Sablan, 62, pleaded guilty on Friday, according to astatementfrom the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Per the statement, Sablan admitted to kidnapping the girl at gunpoint in San Antonio last July and driving her nearly 1,400 miles to California. Sablan also admitted he threatened the girl with a firearm and “sexually assaulted her multiple times before his arrest in Long Beach.”

“At the time of the crime, Sablan had no legal custody or familial relationship to the victim,” the statement continued.

Steven Robert Sablan pleaded guilty to the July 2023 kidnapping on Friday.Long Beach Police Department

Man Was Caught Kidnapping Girl, 13, After She Held Up ‘Help Me’ While in the Back of His Car

Long Beach Police Department

“Good Samaritans were in a parking lot when they saw the victim in a parked vehicle holding up a piece of paper with ‘help me’ written on it,” a July 2023press releasefrom the Long Beach Police Department read. “They acknowledged the note and immediately called 9-1-1.”

Soon after kidnapping her, Sablan allegedly asked the victim how old she was and she replied that she was 13 years old. She then later mentioned that she had a friend in Australia and he allegedly told the victim he could take her to a cruise ship to visit the friend, “but she had to do something for him first,” according to a July 2023 statement from theU.S. Attorney’s Office.

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Sablan’s sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 25, “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 U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

source: people.com