Man found with missing girl, 5, in Queens charged with kidnapping, criminal sex act: NYPD
QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) -- Franz Vila, a 75-year-old man who was found with a 5-year-old girl after she was reported missing on Tuesday, has been charged with kidnapping in the first degree, police said on Wednesday.
Vila was also charged with abuse with sexual motivation, criminal sex act on a person less than 11 years old, unlawful imprisonment, and acting in a manner injurious to a child, police said.
The girl's mother was also charged on Wednesday. Kimberly Pijuan, 30, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, police said.
Police said the girl was with Pijuan around 9 a.m. Tuesday at a Foodtown Supermarket on 37th Avenue. While in the store, the girl reportedly asked her mother to go to the park, police said. Pijuan initially said no but allowed an acquaintance, later identified by police as Vila, to take her daughter instead.
Surveillance images released by the NYPD show the man holding the girl’s hand in the grocery store. Police said the Pijuan subsequently could not contact Vila and called 911 around 1 p.m.
Around 4 p.m., a good Samaritan spotted the girl in the Jackson Heights subway station — just a few blocks from the Foodtown supermarket — and flagged down officers, police said.
Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.