MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man was locked up and accused of trying to kidnap a 13-year-old girl just feet away from her Raleigh home.
Benjamin Gray was also facing charges for exposing himself to a woman outside a tobacco shop in the same neighborhood days before.
Now, officials said he can add aggravated kidnapping and indecent exposure charges to the list.
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect her,” said Marshall Massie.
Massie said his daughter was outside their home on Albermarle when Gray drove past her a few days ago smiling and waving.
“Then he came back around the block and approached her and told her to get in the car. She said no and kept walking,” said Massie.
Seconds later, Massie said Gray grabbed his little girl and dragged her to his car.
He said it was a miracle that somehow she got loose and ran home.
It didn’t end there though.
Gray apparently followed her and even tried getting into the back door.
“Then he came around to the front door, and said, ‘I didn’t get you this time, but I’ll get you next time,'” said Massie.
The girl gave a description of the man to police, and after a few tips from neighbors, officers found Gray living just a block away.
Folks who know Gray didn’t want to go on camera but told WREG they weren’t surprised.
Gray had a long rap sheet of charges including assault.
Police said in 2013, he grabbed a little boy at a Bartlett library.
“We are not going to tolerate it. We will prosecute him to the fullest of the law,” said Massie.
Gray was scheduled to be back in court next Thursday.
