AMHERST, MASS. (WHDH) - A homeless man is being held in prison after he allegedly attempted to kidnap a toddler from an Amherst home early Saturday morning.
Jimmy Lee Sanchez, 35, was arraigned Monday on charges of breaking and entering nighttime for felony, larceny from a building, assault and battery, attempt to commit a crime to wit kidnapping, and larceny under $1,200 following his arrest Sunday on an outstanding warrant issued out of Eastern Hampshire District Court.
A judge ordered Sanchez held pending a dangerousness hearing.
Officers responding to a reported intruder at a Spring Street residence around 2 a.m. Saturday learned that the victims were awaken to the sound of someone in their home before finding an unknown man on the second floor holding their 20-month-old child, Amherst police said.
The man tried to exit the home with the toddler but the victims pursued him and fought him outside their home before wrestling their child safely from his arms, police added.
The unknown man fled the area on foot and after a daylong investigation, Amherst detectives say they were able to identify Sanchez as a suspect.
The victims reported minor injuries.
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