Cat gets credit for Girl's Escape

Lansing State Journal ^ | 3/27/2002 | Adam Emerson

[sockmonkey]

Lansing man arraigned on assault charge

By Adam Emerson
Lansing State Journal

A cat stopped a north-side Lansing man from sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl he snatched from his front lawn, police said Tuesday.

Investigators said Wulfrido Lopez brought the girl inside the home, put duct tape over her mouth and tried to remove her pants just after 6 p.m. Monday. But the girl's cat attacked Lopez, enabling her to break free and escape.

"She was damn lucky she had that cat in her hand," Detective Brian Smitherman said. "This could have turned out really bad."

Lopez, 36, was arraigned on a charge of kidnapping and child enticement, which is punishable by up to life in prison. He also was charged with criminal sexual conduct - assault with the intent to penetrate, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Lopez, who is from Mexico and doesn't speak English, spoke through an interpreter before Lansing District Judge Beverley Nettles-Nickerson. Lopez asked for a court-appointed attorney. He was jailed late Tuesday on a $300,000 bond.

Police say that Lopez took the girl into his home at 1019 N. Chestnut St., just off Oakland Avenue. The girl lived nearby but didn't know him, Smitherman said.

The girl screamed and yelled at him to let her go, Lt. Steve Mitchell said. Investigators say he tried to put tape over her mouth after she told him that she thought she heard her mother call for her.

He tried to take off her pants, but couldn't, Smitherman said. The cat, which the girl had been holding the entire time, swiped at Lopez's arm, allowing the girl to run.

The Lansing police special tactical team went to the home with a search warrant, and found Lopez hiding in a crawl space in a basement, covered in dirt to conceal himself, Mitchell said.

Contact Adam Emerson at 377-1058 or aemerson@lsj.com.

[celtic gal]

Purina should send the kitty a years worth of food and treats. I hope the little girl gets to keep the cat when the creep goes to jail.

[Lady Jag]

[csvset]

Wulfrido Lopez, who is from Mexico and doesn't speak English.

The cat didn't like Wulfie and with good reason.

Someone alert the INS and advise them not to issue a visa to this sob. I'll volunteer to kick his ass back to the border.

[moyden]

Pedophiles should be executed.

No exceptions.

[sockmonkey]

Gotta love that Tabby Tote

That Tabby Tote looks like it would be a pretty good device to use on Wulfido's cajones.

[Springman]

Thank you for the post. I heard about this at lunch, didn't eat after this, but didn't know where. Hope when this M(%^#$ F&#*#$ gets to Jackson State Pen. he gets what he has coming to him!!!

[js1138]

I think I just died laughing. Do you suppose Hillary ever used one on Bill?

[Aliska]

They are truly a scourge. They have people who try to protect their families on the run.

[shaggy eel]

,,, animal strikes at animal. "That cat deserves a DB", as we'd say in my country. (DB is a popular lager and the commercial shows a range of everyday working heros deserving DBs).

[Jasper]

Given the high rates of recidivism, and the fact that child molesters are the most sociopathic and manipulative scum on the face of the earth, these freaks should be tortured first then treated to a public execution. The beer and hotdogs are on me.

/jasper