Police: Kentucky man tried to buy 3-year-old boy from grandmother
04/15/2021 1:56 pm PDT
CORBIN, Ky. (TCD) --
A 73-year-old Kentucky man was arrested for allegedly offering money to buy a 3-year-old boy after allegedly trying to abduct the child last week.
Corbin Police officers responded to a call from a residence on Gordon Hill Pike on Wednesday, April 7, at about 4 p.m., the Somerset Commonwealth Journal reports.
A woman called Corbin Police to report a man had approached her 3-year-old grandson, WYMT-TV reports. She said the man tried to help the boy climb over the fence in the yard.
The suspect allegedly walked over to where the 3-year-old boy was playing and began attempting to assist him to the other side of the fence by holding his hand and leading him, the Commonwealth Journal reports.
The woman reportedly yelled at the man to let the child go, and the boy ran to safety in the yard. The suspect then walked into the family’s yard, according to the arrest citation quoted by the Journal.
“He said ‘I’ll give you a thousand dollars for this little boy,’” the grandmother, identified as Kristy Baker, said, according to WYMT.
The grandmother’s boyfriend reportedly yelled at the suspect, later identified as Ronnie Lou Helton, to leave. Helton went back to his vehicle and left, according to the arrest citation. Baker gave officers a license plate number and a description of the vehicle and the suspect.
Helton was later located at an apartment on American Greeting Card Road, where he was arrested, the Journal reports.
Ronnie Lou Helton was held at the Whitley County Detention Center on charges of kidnapping a minor and promoting human trafficking of a victim under 18.
Helton was reportedly arrested in Clay County for solicitation for prostitution in 2019, WYMT reports.
MORE:
