A Texas man with a lengthy criminal history has been arrested for allegedly attempting to kidnap a 13-year-old girl over the weekend.
On May 3, Stanley Dotson, 41, was charged with attempted kidnapping at the Bella Vida apartment complex in Harris County, located outside Houston.
According to court records, Dotson has been arrested at least 26 times since age 13.
The teen told Harris County sheriff’s deputies that she was riding her electric scooter in the neighborhood with her 9-year-old friend around 8 p.m. on Saturday when a man began following her.
She estimated he was between 30 and 50 years old and recalled him wearing a gray shirt with the word “SHOT” on it. The teen told deputies that he had been staring at her and that it made her feel uncomfortable.
He then grabbed her arm and pulled her to the ground. She stood up and began screaming, after which the man let her go and she ran away.
According to the girl’s father, Pedro Basulto, the suspect quickly caught up with her as she fled and pulled her to the ground again. She only got away from him when a neighbor stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, prompting Dotson to flee, according to Basulto.
Basulto stated that by the time he arrived outside, the man had already left.
“Thank God, I don’t know why destiny didn’t want me to find him because bad things would have happened,” Basulto told ABC13 in Spanish.
At the same apartment complex, a woman captured video of a man later identified as Dotson. She told ABC13 that he was touching himself outside her window and fiddling with his pants just before allegedly grabbing the teenager.
On Tuesday, following the terrifying incident, apartment complex managers sent an email to tenants with a photo of the man.
The next day, deputies reported that they had received an anonymous tip identifying Dotson as the man in the photograph.
A victim and a witness in the case were shown a photo lineup of Dotson and several other men with similar characteristics, and both were able to identify him as the suspect, police said.
Dotson was arrested on Thursday at his Airtex apartment, which is less than a mile from the Bella Vida Apartments. He was booked into Harris County Jail and charged with attempted kidnapping.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to deny bail for Dotson, citing two previous felony convictions.
At his hearing on Thursday, his bond was set at $100,000.
