A 19-year-old man was charged Wednesday with grabbing an 8-year-old boy playing with a friend in Westminster and assaulting another child.
Anthony Enrique Gonzalez was charged with forcible lewd act on a child, kidnapping for child molesting and lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14, all felonies.
One of the boys was playing in the 13500 block of Edwards Street on Saturday when the suspect grabbed the child and “dragged” him to a place “with less people and is alleged to have engaged in inappropriate and unlawful contact with the victim,” police said.
The boy was able to get away and run home, authorities said.
Gonzalez’s arraignment was rescheduled Wednesday to April 15 in the West Justice Center in Westminster.
Gonzalez was charged last year with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and a drug and failed to appear in court, according to court records. A warrant was issued for his arrest in November.