Tampa churchgoers rescue two kidnapped 12-year-old girls after a mouth said ‘help me, that’s not my dad’
- A mother may have prevented two children from being kidnapped in FishHawk
- One of the girls accompanied by a man said: “Help me, this is not my father”
- Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office arrested 37-year-old Brandon resident David Daniels on two counts of false custody of a child and child molestation
Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office arrested 37-year-old Brandon resident David Daniels on two counts of false custody of a child and child molestation
A mother may have saved the lives of two children after seeing one mouth ‘Help me, this is not my father’ while being accompanied by a man pretending to be her father.
The two underage girls were leaving Cherry’s Bar and Grill in the FishHawk parking lot in Tampa Sunday night when 37-year-old David Daniels approached them and said he was “supervising” their walk home.
Daniels reportedly began hitting one of the girls on the head multiple times and putting the other in a headlock while continuing to follow them.
MPs said both children believed they were being kidnapped.
The girls, who had never met Daniels before, jumped on their bikes and rode to a nearby church to ask for help.
Daniels then allegedly followed the girls to church, claiming they were his daughters.
The woman who entered was outside the church when she realized something was wrong.
The girls jumped on their bikes and rode to a nearby church to ask for help. Daniels reportedly followed the girls to church, claiming they were his daughters
“I don’t want any recognition for that,” said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t want to be a hero. I’ve only done what I hope anyone would do for my own children.
“One of the little girls said to me, ‘Please help me, that’s not my dad,'” the woman, who asked not to be identified, told FOX13.
The woman welcomed Daniels and the girls to church and acted out his story.
“He sort of talked over her, right behind her, put his arm around her neck and said something in her ear, saying, ‘We just moved here, we just want to see how we can help do that, too.’ whatever you do,” said the woman.
But when she asked him where he moved from, Daniels said he wasn’t sure.
Others at the church, alerted by the woman, managed to keep Daniels busy until they called 911.
Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office arrested 37-year-old Brandon resident David Daniels on two counts of false custody of a child and child molestation.
“I don’t want any recognition for that,” the woman said. “I don’t want to be a hero. I’ve only done what I hope anyone would do for my own children.
Daniels is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail on $104,000 bail.