A man and woman are facing charges after police said they tried to lure a 9-year-old girl into a van in Hollywood.
Michael Diaz, 34, and Taiana Carla Tersano, 31, were arrested last week on charges of luring or enticing a child under 12 and causing a child to become deliquent, arrest reports said.
The alleged incident happened around 4:30 p.m. Friday in the 1900 block of McKinley Street.
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According to the arrest reports, officers responded after the girl's mother reported that a van with a man, woman and child inside tried to lure her 9-year-old daughter into the van.
The girl told police she was playing in the yard when the van pulled up and a woman inside rolled a window down and told her "come here," the reports said.
The girl's father said he was sitting in his car and his daughter was playing in the front yard when the van pulled up and the woman got out and approached his daughter, the reports said.
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The father said he prevented the woman from making contact with his daughter and that's when the woman approached him and spat in his face then punched him, the reports said.
When the woman made another attempt to approach the girl the father said he struck the woman in the face in self-defense and she got back in the van and left, the reports said.
A witness said he heard the male suspect yell "grab the f---ing kid" as the woman again approached the 9-year-old but was stopped by the father, the reports said.
The girl's mother said she heard someone screaming "I'm going to come back and kill all of you" before the woman got back in the van and left, the reports said.
The mother gave police a description of the van along with descriptions of the man and woman and the child they were with, and officers stopped a van that met the description nearby, the reports said.
Inside the van were Diaz, Tersano and their 7-year-old child, the reports said. The child, who was not seated and was in the back of the van surrounded by loose mechanical tools, was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, the reports said.
Diaz and Tersano were arrested and booked into jail. Attorney information wasn't available.
