UPDATE: Police say a 8-year-old child's report of being forced into Donald Mobley's home at Gardenia Gardens Apartments by Mobley Tuesday night did not occur, according to our affiliate WCJB in Gainesville.
After further investigation and review of the child's testimony, it was determined that the 8-year-old voluntarily went inside Mobley's apartment. The apartment door was open the entire time she was inside and the child left on her own accord after her friends threatened to tell her family where she was.
GPD investigators say they also have physical evidence that clears Mobley of this crime.
Detectives have completed paperwork for the State Attorney's Office documenting these new developments and have recommended Mobley be released from the Alachua County Jail.
Original Post:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A Gainesville child can be called a hero after police say she saved her cousin from an alleged kidnapper Tuesday evening.
Donald Mobley, a 61-year-old convicted child molester, is the man accused of wrangling an 8-year-old girl into his apartment on NE 8th Avenue, according to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.
According to a ACSO deputy's report, the 8-year-old girl was playing with a younger friend in the Gardenia Garden apartment complex when Mobley allegedly asked her to come into his apartment to play the drums. When the girl said 'no', Mobley got mad, according to the report.
Mobley then pulled the girl into his apartment against her will and barricaded himself against the door, according to testimony given to Alachua deputies.
The 8-year-old's cousin was nearby and saw what happened. The cousin hammered on the door until Mobley opened it, according to the report. That's when the girl told her cousin to run and both escaped safely.
Mobley told investigators the young girl entered his apartment on her own, and deputies were called because everyone in the complex hates him. But inconsistencies in Mobley's story led to his arrest, according to the arrest report.
Mobley was charged with kidnapping a minor under 13 years of age, a felony.
Records show Mobley was previously convicted in 2001 of child molestation and indecent exposure.
