Sacramento woman arrested and accused of kidnapping at school bus stop in Shasta County
A Sacramento woman remained in custody Wednesday accused of kidnapping after she grabbed a 7-year-old child at a school bus stop in Shasta County, sheriff’s officials said.
The 49-year-old woman was being held at the Shasta County Jail. Along with the kidnapping charge, she faces a felony charge of vandalism and a misdemeanor charge of petty theft, jail records show. Her bail was set at $111,000.
The alleged kidnapping was reported about 8:20 a.m. Tuesday at the school bus stop in the 14000 block of Ravine Road in the Jones Valley area, a few miles northeast of Redding.
Deputies responded to a report of a woman who had tried to force a child to leave with her, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release.
Witnesses told deputies the Sacramento woman had been loitering near the bus stop, rode up on a bicycle and pulled the 7-year-old child’s arm to force the child to leave with her.
Sheriff’s officials said the woman remained there as a school bus arrived and tried to follow the child onto the bus. The bus driver closed the doors after the child got on safely.
The child’s parent was nearby and had witnessed the reported kidnapping. Sheriff’s officials said the parent followed the woman as she tried to leave on her bicycle and detained the suspect until deputies arrived.
An arraignment hearing for the arrested woman had not yet been scheduled, Shasta Superior Court records show.
