Authorities praise the unidentified teen girl for providing the perfect clue leading to her rescue, in the form of a sign with big red letters saying “help me.” She held it up in the window of a car parked at a southern California laundromat. One of the regular customers phoned it in and kept lookout until the cops arrived.
Teen rescued from abuse
The young teen girl, reportedly 13, isn’t being named but she was definitely kidnapped and had been raped repeatedly. Her 61-year-old abductor, Steven Robert Sablan, was arrested at the lavandaria.
She was snatched from Texas, three or four days before being rescued in California. Luckily, an honest and upstanding citizen saw her holding up a “help me” sign from inside a parked car and took action.
The teen was “visibly emotional and distressed” when the Long Beach Police Department got there, a spokesman relates on July 20. That was around 10:19 a.m. on July 9. The car was parked at the Easy Wash Laundromat in the 100 block of East 10th Street.
A 13-year-old girl — allegedly kidnapped from San Antonio and sexually assaulted by Steven Robert Sablan (61) of Cleburne — used this sign to be rescued from his vehicle while he was in a laundromat in Long Beach, CA, per a criminal complaint. MORE: https://t.co/cQ9Ow0wZRf @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/k24ALaQE7H
— David Sentendrey (@DavidSFOX4) July 21, 2023
The witness who called in the tip gave the girl a sign back that “she was on it” as she dialed the digits, then hung back to keep an eye on things until help arrived.
Meanwhile, 61-year-old Steven Robert Sablan was inside washing practically everything he owned except his shoes. It took him a while, with a dollar in the dryer they weren’t dry yet. Police had plenty of time to get there and talk to the teen before he came out.
Sablan is listed as a resident of Cleburne, Texas. Based on what she told them, he’ll probably end up working in the prison laundry but not for long. Life expectancy for guys like him behind bars isn’t long.
San Antonio bus stop
The teen girl relates that she was minding her own business waiting for a bus in San Antonio. Everything was normal until Sablan “approached” her and “forced her into his gray Nissan Sentra.” at gunpoint. Reports also say “knifepoint” but he had a gun.
She had two choices, the federal court documents charge, get in the car with him or he would hurt her. Sablan is the property of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, now.
After abducting the 13-year-old in Texas, Sablan allegedly raped her repeatedly over a period of three days in every state between there and the coast. As New York Post reports, “at one point during their drive, the girl mentioned that she had a friend in Australia.”
The United States Department of Justice announced Thursday that Steven Robert Sablan, 61, of Cleburne, Texas, has been charged with one count of kidnapping and one count of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. https://t.co/IqkfuEAMqr
— NiQole (@NiQole1776) July 21, 2023
Oh really? Sablan replied, “then promised to put the teen on a cruise ship to visit the friend.” There was only one catch. She “had to do something for him first.”
Sablan has already been indicted by a federal grand jury on “one count of kidnapping and one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.”
The next time he sees a judge is on July 31 for his arraignment in wonderful downtown Los Angeles. The teen, “who was listed as a runaway, is now in the custody of the Department of Child and Family services.“
