STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — A registered sex offender was taken into custody in an unusual manner early Tuesday morning after crawling through the window of a young child’s bedroom. A California mother and father subdued and duct-taped the man they caught standing in their 5-year-old daughter’s room, authorities said.
The parents caught a creeper, later identified as Daniel Diaz, 39, prowling outside their home in Grayson around 5 a.m., FOX40 Sacramento reported.
However, instead of fleeing, the man removed a screen from a window and made entry into a 5-year-old’s bedroom, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said.
“He was in the living room window trying to peek in and he was grabbing his private parts and just looking around,” the girl’s mother Martha Zepeda told WLTX-TV.
The father walked outside to find the voyeur, but lost sight of the suspect until they heard a loud noise emitting from their 5-year-old daughter’s bedroom, the family said.
Diaz reportedly removed a screen, which allowed entry into the little girl’s bedroom, authorities confirmed.
“The man turned on the lights and that’s when my sister woke up and she got scared,” Ceci Ramirez, the girl’s older sister, told KOVR-TV.
The father pushed the suspect outside, where he wrestled him to the ground. He and his wife restrained the perverted man using duct tape as they waited for police to arrive, Fox reported.
According to the Megan’s Law website, Diaz is a registered sex offender due to a 2009 conviction for assault with intent to commit rape. He was released in 2018, according to local stations.
Diaz was booked at the Stanislaus County Jail on charges of suspicion of home invasion, peeping and prowling, burglary, and child abuse. His bail is set at $150,000.