Video shows registered sex offender talking to and stalking 10-year-old girl inside SW Miami-Dade Home Depot
WSVN, MIAMI-DADE POLICE, MIAMI-DADE CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION (MDCR), MUGSHOTS, CNN
By Jessica Holly, Jack Royer, Kevin Boulandier, Dannielle Garcia
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SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Florida (WSVN) — A new view inside a Home Depot in Southwest Miami-Dade Home Depot shows what police described as a creepy crime involving a 60-year-old man and a 10-year-old girl that landed the man in jail.
Officers arrested Kevin Hurley, a registered sex offender on probation, after he repeatedly made contact with the child inside the store and then followed her as she walked out to her car.
Surveillance video captured on July 4 at the Home Depot located off the Turnpike near U.S. 1 shows what, investigators said, is Hurley trying to strike up a conversation with the girl, who was with her mother and wearing a Disney souvenir.
According to the report, Hurley was standing in the line for returns when he initiated the conversation. He complimented the girl’s souvenir, saying, “I love your Mickey ears.”
Then as he finished his transaction, the girl’s mother told officers that Hurley looked back at her daughter and said, “I think you are so beautiful.”
Rather than leaving the store, investigators said, the suspect paced around the store and kept an eye on the child. He tried to make at least one more attempt to get close to the child and the mother.
The mother noticed his behavior and asked a store employee to walk them out to their car.
According to police, Hurley waited in his car outside for the girl to leave. He backed up and began following them with his car as they walked through the parking lot.
Afraid to go to her vehicle, the mother walked to the edge of the parking lot and, as she turned around, she spotted Hurley at a stop sign straight ahead, staring back at them.
A good Samaritan who witnessed what was going on went up to the man and told him to take off.
Hurley has a 2014 conviction of child molestation and was wearing an ankle monitor that day.
The police report, he “cannot have unsupervised contact with minors, including contact without the supervising adult being aware of his conviction.”
While the mother had not way to know about Hurley’s past conviction, she knew something was suspicious about the man following them in his car and making comments about her daughter.
In addition to the surveillance video, detectives said, the mother snapped a photo of Hurley’s license plate, helping them track down the suspect.
Police took Hurley into custody on July 23. He faces a charge of aggravated stalking of a minor.
He remains behind bars at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade.
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