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15-year-old boy sentenced to over 1 year for toddler kidnapping caught on video

Published  June 24, 2015 3:25pm PDT
Associated Press



SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to grabbing a toddler from a park in the small eastern Washington town of Sprague has been sentenced to more than a year in juvenile detention.

The boy pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping in juvenile court on Wednesday.

Portions of the March 8 kidnapping attempt in Sprague were captured on surveillance video cameras and widely publicized.

The Spokesman-Review (http://bit.ly/1Rx8MNY ) reports Lincoln County Judge John Strohmaier sentenced the boy to 56 to 70 weeks in detention, well above the standard range of 15 to 36 weeks.

The boy had approached a 22-month-old boy and his 8-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother in the Sprague City Park. After several minutes of conversation, the teen grabbed the toddler and ran down the street as the older siblings gave chase, screaming.

The kidnapper put the toddler down and ran off.

He was later identified and arrested.

Sprague is a farm town of about 500 people about 40 miles west of Spokane.