Man accused of trying to abduct 12-year-old girl from Gaston County street
A man has been arrested and charged in the attempted abduction of a 12-year-old girl from a street near Gastonia.
Gaston County Police charged Ricky Adam Townsend, 28, of Gastonia with attempted second-degree kidnapping, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Townsend was in the Gaston County Jail on $500,000 bail Wednesday.
The girl was riding her bike Friday in the 3300 block of Goble Street, just south of Gastonia, when a man offered her money and tried to grab her by the arm, police said.
Townsend was arrested without incident during a traffic stop near Dallas, N.C. He was driving a black 2015 Dodge Dart with black wheels. Police had issued an alert Friday for “a black passenger car, possibly a late-model Dodge Dart.”
Joe Marusak: 704-358-5067, @jmarusak
This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Man accused of trying to abduct 12-year-old girl from Gaston County street."