A brave 13-year-old victim furnished details leading to sexual assault charges for an Orange County man who abducted her while on her way to school, according to the County Sheriff’s Office.
Luis Manuel Frias Jr., 41, of Ocoee, was arrested on three counts of sexual battery, one count of kidnapping, three counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and one count of unlawful exposure of sexual organs, the agency announced in a press release. He is being held in the Orange County Jail, jail records show.
“Because of the victim’s bravery, and willingness to work with detectives, our sex crimes unit was able to identify Frias and make an arrest,” the sheriff’s office said in the release.
Arrest records show Frias lured the girl into his Honda Accord around 9:30 a.m. Monday by offering to give her a ride while she walked to school near the intersection of Brookgreen Avenue and West Oak Ridge Road in the Oak Ridge area. He drove her to an unoccupied home in the nearby Tangelo Park neighborhood off Sand Lake Road.
The victim began crying and told Frias she “did not want to die.” He told her he “just wanted to look” and proceeded to sexually assault her inside the vehicle before dropping her off at another location, records show. He told her not to mention the encounter to anyone.
Deputies interviewed the victim later Monday and drew a sketch based off her description of Frias, including his lazy eye. Investigators managed to identify Frias through cell phone location information and surveillance footage of his vehicle, which had silver rims and a chrome accent on its bumper. The victim was also able to identify Frias in a photographic line-up on Thursday, according to arrest records.
The sheriff’s office is concerned that there may have been previous attempts by Frias to lure children and would like to hear about any possible attempts from the community, according to the release.