Craig N. Ross Jr. 'tried to snatch boy, 10, just two months before abducting Charlotte Sena,' child'
THE man arrested for kidnapping nine-year-old Charlotte Sena in New York over the weekend allegedly tried to snatch another elementary school-aged child over the summer.
Carol Brown, 61, said that Craig N. Ross Jr. tried to take her grandson Braiden, 10, when they were they were doing yardwork outside of her home in July.
Ross told the New York Post she went to the back of the house for a split second to turn her water hose on when it happened.
She then heard her dogs barking wildly and went back to the front yard to see what was going on.
That's when she noticed Ross - who stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 275 pounds, per his arrest record - towering over her 10-year-old grandson.
He was wearing "Native American" style earrings with feathers and hoops that looked like dreamcatchers, she said.
Read more in News
"I heard the dog start freaking out, really freaking out, so I ran back around to see what was going on and there was a very scary-looking man standing over my grandson who was crouching down over the weed whacker,” Brown said.
“He was standing over him, inches away.”
Brown has claimed that Ross tried to lure her grandson in by asking him to help him load string on his new Weedwacker.
When she noticed the strange encounter, and Ross realized she was watching them, he started backing up.
Most read in The US Sun
He then sprinted toward a bike he left on the road when she offered to get her husband - who recently retired as a police detective - to help him.
He said: "Oh, no, no no, I'm okay," according to Brown.
She has recounted this story to police.
“When the police showed me his picture I would have fell down if I wasn’t already sitting,” the grandma told The Post.
“My grandson freaked out when he saw that when I showed him the picture of the man that we saw back in July, she said, adding that: “I recognized him immediately, 100%. Immediately, I said that’s him.”
She added: "For weeks after, I was creeped out, we both were. We’ve lived here for 30 years I’ve never seen anything like that.
"In hindsight, I believe I hadn’t if I hadn’t run around the house when I heard the dog freaking out my grandson would be gone."
CHARLOTTE SENA'S KIDNAPPING AND RECOVERY
Ross was thrown in jail on a felony kidnapping charge on Monday, after police say they found Sena locked in a cabinet in a camper on his mother's property in Ballston Spa, New York, outside Albany.
Ross was clothed in a pair of underwear and Sena was stuffed inside a cabinet when police found them, according to a local media outlet, the Times Union.
Sena went missing on Saturday evening after she went biking with friends around dinner time in Moreau Lake State Park in Upstate New York.
After biking a couple of loops with her friends, she decided to go on one more loop by herself.
That's when she vanished.
Her parents noticed her disappearance within 15 minutes and called the police.
New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, held a briefing about the girl's disappearance over the weekend and an Amber alert went out.
Sena was found alive on Monday, thanks to a ransom note Ross left behind in her parent's mailbox.
FINGERPRINTS ON A RANSOM NOTE
As The U.S. Sun reported earlier, Police were able to match fingerprints on the ransom note to a DWI charge Ross had in 1999.
While officials haven't confirmed what happened to Sena after she was kidnapped, the governor said at the media briefing that Sena appeared to be "outwardly physically unharmed at the time."
"That's all the family wishes to reveal at this time. They are united. She is in good hands," Houchel told reporters, adding: "Often these stories don't end up like this."
Police say additional charges are expected.
SEXUAL ABUSE CLAIMS
According to the Times Union, Ross was recently involved in a State Police investigation after allegations surfaced that he sexually abused a 12-year-old female family acquaintance.
The incident allegedly took place a year ago but was filed over the summer.
The state police closed the investigation last month and didn't file any charges.
Ross denied the allegations, according to the same source.
And he is not a registered sex offender.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the New York State Police for comments on the sexual abuse investigation.
A spokesman said: "New York State Police will not confirm, deny, or provide any information concerning investigations that did not result in criminal prosecution."
They added: "We have no history of arresting Craig N. Ross Jr. for any sexual related crimes."
They have yet to reveal a motive or if he knew the nine-year-old's family.
He lived two miles from the little girl's home.
Read More on The US Sun
There have been rumors circulating in the media that Ross was related to a man who lived in the same area, Charles A. Ross, who has been arrested for stalking and sharing unauthorized images of girls online.
However, the same police spokesman told The U.S. Sun exclusively on Wednesday: "We have no indication there is any relation with Charles Ross."
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEZqqupl6YvK57zZ6urGdpZ4F4f5VsZpyqkZ60br7OrKpmoqJiwK%2Bt05yfnpxdl7y6ecKhmKukn6nBpnnSnqWaZZuesa%2Btz6mgp59f