By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-09 17:41:48 | Updated at 2025-01-10 02:47:19
9 hours ago
An illegal migrant who has been deported a staggering five times was arrested after police said he tried to kidnap a teenage girl at a store in Alabama on New Year's Eve.
The Elmore County Sheriff’s Office charged Yordy Noe Centeno-Melchor with second degree attempted kidnapping in connection with the December 31 incident in Holtville, according to court records cited by WAKA-TV.
Sheriff Bill Franklin told WFSA that Centeno-Melchor, 31, tried to lure a 17-year-old girl into his car in the parking lot of a Boy's Store, a local grocery store in the small rural town. He was reportedly showed her something on his phone and told her to get in.
Surveillance video showed a bystander approaching Centeno-Melchor, causing him to abandon the alleged kidnapping attempt and flee, according to police.
Sheriff Franklin said the video captured his license plate number, leading investigators to a 2017 black Mitsubishi.
Sheriff's deputies in the town of Clanton pulled over that same car on January 3 for a traffic violation and arrested Centeno-Melchor.
He's being held in jail and was given a $100,000 cash bail by a judge during his first court appearance on Monday.
Sheriff Franklin added that three days before the attempted kidnapping, Centeno-Melchor matched the description of a man who was found in a Walmart women's bathroom in nearby Prattville. Franklin said there was a teenage girl in the bathroom.
Yordy Noe Centeno-Melchor was arrested January 3 after he allegedly tried to kidnap a 17-year-old girl on New Year's Eve
Pictured: The grocery store in Holtville where the attempted kidnapping happened, according to police. Centeno-Melchor allegedly tried to lure the girl into his car but was scared off by a bystander
Court records show Centeno-Melchor has been apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) multiple times and has been deported five times.
'We're trying to determine what constituted those deportations. We don't know right now,' Sheriff Franklin said.
His country of origin is unknown. DailyMail.com contacted ICE for comment.
There could be a battle between ICE and local prosecutors over how Centeno-Melchor's case proceeds, according to Sheriff Franklin.
'ICE will want to deport this individual. We're not for that. What we're going to do is introduce this gentleman to the criminal justice system in the state of Alabama, and here in Elmore County,' he said.
ICE has placed a hold on Centeno-Melchor due to his illegal status, asking Elmore County officials to keep the suspect locked up so they can weigh whether they want to take custody of him and deport him.
Prosecutors want to try Centeno-Melchor and are afraid that won't happen if he's released into federal custody, according to court documents.
