WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - A man accused of an attempted kidnapping incident near a school bus stop in Worcester appeared before a judge to face criminal charges on Tuesday.
Jose Palau, 37, hid his face in Worcester District Court as a judge arraigned him on charges of attempted kidnapping, accosting someone of the opposite sex, assault, and committing a lewd and lascivious act. His lawyer said he recently went off his medication that helps him to control his alcoholism.
Sailly Encarnacion, 16, a sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School, said she was nervous and scared when she encountered Palau as she was getting off the bus Monday.
The high schooler said the scariest part for her was not immediately knowing he was following her.
“I never thought that he would be behind me,” she said.
He claimed Encarnacion’s mother had sent him to pick her up though she had never seen him before.
Encarnacion’s mother said she was particularly upset that Palau told her daughter she had sent him to meet up with her.
“As a mom, it is. I think it is everyone’s worst nightmare as a parent,” Vilmarie Marti said outside the courthouse.
Encarnacion said Palau was clearly drunk and tried to pull her into a car before she was able to call 911.
“Then he made a comment that I was his daughter, then he said I was his best friend,” Encarnacion said. “So he was just finding any way to try to make somebody say, ‘Yeah, go with him, go with him.”
When asked if he touched her, the teen said no.
“I would move back and every time I would move, he would move,” she said. “Like sizing me.”
An employee and L&M Tire saw the commotion and brought the teen inside the business.
“I stayed inside the waiting room of the business, the tire business,” she said. “The employee stayed with him and he stayed there the whole time until the police came.”
Officers responding to the scene on West Boylston Street around 2 p.m. spoke with Palau, who allegedly became “extremely” confrontational” with officers, making obscene gestures and lewd comments.
Encarnacion said she hopes other teens can learn from her experience.
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