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TAMPA - A Honduran man is in jail, charged with the attempted kidnapping of an 18-year-old mentally handicapped student as she waited at her bus stop before dawn Friday.
According to sheriff's officials, the teen - an exceptional education student at Gaither High School - was waiting with her mother at the bus stop in front of Cedar Trace Apartments on 22nd Street when Jose Alvarado, 32, walked up. The mother said Alvarado grabbed her daughter's arm and started to pull her toward the road. He showed her a gold chain and said she could have it if she went to his residence.
The mother grabbed her child and sat on the ground with her, yelling for help. She said Alvarado tried a second time to grab her daughter. "My daughter was very scared," she said. Alvarado, a Honduran national who lives at 2006 E 136th Ave. and gave his occupation as construction worker, was charged with attempted kidnapping. He was being held Friday without bail in the Orient Road Jail.