VICTORVILLE – An 18-year-old man is behind bars following the alleged abuse and kidnapping of a 1-year-old girl on Monday. Just before 12:15 a.m. Victorville police were dispatched to the Rodeway Inn located at 15366 La Paz Drive. Deputies arrived shortly after to a distraught young mother authorities said.
The woman told police that the suspect, identified as Demetrius Eugene Hall of Victorville went to her home Sunday evening and refused to leave. They got into a verbal altercation and the woman called the police. The police responded, spoke to both parties and left. Before the alleged kidnapping,the woman, who said she is around 6 weeks pregnant told police that Hall threw the child across the room into a wall. As the baby cried, he walked over to the her (the child’s mother) and choked her.
After doing so, he grabbed the toddler and fled the scene on foot. The woman told the police that although Hall did sign the child’s birth certificate he is not her biological father. Deputies set up a perimeter and called in the K-9 to assist in finding the small child who was taken from the location in a pink flower dress and a diaper.
Police spoke with one male witness, who was less than forthcoming with information but did say the approximately 6’6 tall, 200 pound man ran with the child eastbound toward Victor Valley High School. The K-9 was able to track the sent of the suspect and toddler to around ½ mile east of the location, indicating the suspect and child were picked up.
“The child was located at approximately 2:19 AM, with the suspect, at a Victorville residence where the suspects family and friends stayed,” said the Victorville Sheriff’s station spokeswoman, Mara Rodriguez. “The child was checked out by AMR and returned to the mother.”
Hall was arrested on the 15000 block of Ritter Street in Victorville. He was booked into the High Desert Center for Kidnapping, child cruelty and domestic battery. He is scheduled for an arraignment hearing at the Victorville Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon.
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