Virginia Beach, Va. - Virginia Beach Police have charged 52-year-old Ruben Torres of Chesapeake with abduction after he tried to kidnap a 6-year-old boy from a church parking lot.
The incident happened on Saturday at the flea market in the Thalia United Methodist Church parking lot, located on the 4300 block of Virginia Beach Blvd.
The boy had wandered away from his parents. When they noticed the boy being escorted away by an intoxicated Torres, they immediately confronted him but he took off and got in a car.
Police were able to stop Torres shortly after the incident and charged him with abduction and driving under the influence.
This is not Torres's first encounter with the law. He was convicted of raping a child in 1990 in Massachusetts.
He spent 4-7 years behind bars after he was convicted.
Church members say that makes them uneasy.
"If it makes us feel a little bit uneasy, that's probably a good thing because again, it's a reminder that we have to be vigilant in the face of the realities of the broken world in which we live," says Pastor David Goodpasture.
On top of security procedures already in place, Pastor Goodpasture says their Board of Trustees has been looking at ways to improve, whether it's regarding activities inside the building, or during outside events.
"Jesus calls us to welcome strangers and yet we have to be aware thatin doing s, we have to go about that in a certain way," he says.
Stay with NewsChannel 3 as we bring you more on this developing story.
