Sentencitng postponed for confessed cub scout kidnapper

North County Times – Escondido,CA,USA
VISTA – Sentencing was postponed Thursday for a 20-year-old Rialto man who
admitted trying to kidnap a Cub Scout at the Encinitas Christmas
Parade last …

VISTA – Sentencing was postponed Thursday for a 20-year-old Rialto man who admitted trying to kidnap a Cub Scout at the Encinitas Christmas Parade last winter.

Psychological evaluations for Jose Francisco Martin were not yet complete, prompting Judge K. Michael Kirkman to reschedule sentencing to June 25.

Martin faces up to 5 1/2 years in state prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Marnie Stein.

Witnesses at Martin’s preliminary hearing testified that the then-6-year- old victim — whose part in the Dec. 2 parade was over — was slightly ahead of his family along the parade route when the defendant stepped out of a crowd and grabbed him by the waist.

Martin moved the boy several feet until the child’s 11-year-old brother caught up and pulled the defendant’s arm, allowing the victim to escape, witnesses said.

The defendant was arrested a short time later. Both the prosecutor and defense attorney Craig Pointer said he was drunk at the time, but his blood- alcohol level was never tested.

Even though the sentence was not pronounced, the boy’s mother and grandmother both read statements.

Neither the intended victim nor his brother sleep well at night anymore, said their mother, Jodie Dinsmore. She told the judge that she panics when her children get too far away from her.

Their grandmother, Joy Davis, told the defendant he “turned a family outing into a nightmare.”