SAPD arrest suspect in two attempted kidnapping cases

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police announced Friday that an arrest was made in two attempted kidnapping cases.

Jorge Rivera, 18, is charged with two counts of attempt to commit kidnapping.

Jail records show he is being held with bonds totaling $150,000.

San Antonio police confirmed the arrest but would not provide details on how Rivera was identified as a suspect in the two near-abductions.

On March 18, several young girls were walking in the 400 block of Villareal Street on the city’s Southeast Side when a man exited his SUV and grabbed a 12-year-old girl. He tried to drag her to his vehicle, but she struggled and got away.

Police said the description the girls gave matched another attempted kidnapping case from the previous day in the 5800 block of Wales Avenue.

At noon on March 17, a 27-year-old woman was walking in the area when someone in a maroon Nissan Murano approached her. The driver got out of the vehicle and tried to force the woman into the back seat, police said.

Officials said the woman was able to fight back, and she alerted the neighbors. The man then sped away from the scene.