The man arrested Tuesday in connection to the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl in Queens is facing a handful of charges including kidnapping and criminal sex act, according to police.
Franz Vila, 75, was arrested on charges of kidnapping, criminal sex act and unlawful imprisonment, the NYPD announced Wednesday. Attorney information for the Manhattan man was not immediately known.
As he was escorted out of a police precinct on Wednesday, Vila called the whole ordeal a "police stunt."
The charges comes after the 5-year-old was reported missing around 1 p.m. Tuesday after she had not been seen for four hours, police said at the time. Photos showed her wearing a pink flower dress at a Foodtown Supermarket on 37th Avenue near 79th Street in Jackson Heights, the NYPD said, alongside a 75-year-old man wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants.
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Vila, law enforcement sources say, took the girl to his Upper East Side apartment where the two remained for several hours. It was inside that apartment where police say the girl was sexually assaulted.
Police set a wide net to find the girl, deploying a bloodhound, drone and helicopter in hopes of finding the girl. She was located after 4:30 p.m. around 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, not far from the supermarket where she had been last seen.
Police sources told NBC New York that she and the man seen in the security images were found in transit, and the man is in custody.
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After she was located, the girl appeared stunned but in good spirits. Upon hearing the news that the girl was safe and sound, her grandmother broke down in tears.
Law enforcement sources said the man knows the girl's mother and she allowed the man to take her to nearby Travers Park. But when the mother did not hear back from the two and could not find them at the park, she reported her daughter missing to police around 1 p.m.
A law enforcement source said Vila has no prior criminal record.
Her mother, Kimberly Pijuan, was facing a charge of acting in a manner injurious to a child. The Queens DA decided late Wednesday to reverse course, deciding not to pursue charges against the 5-year-old's mother.
Police said the young girl has been placed in the custody of her father.
