ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A local hero received the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Missing Children’s Day Citizen of the Year by the Orange County Commission and by Orange County Corrections where he works as a jail officer for something he did as a dad.
Last August, Corrections Officer Timothy Williams was parked in front of a school bus stop in Polk County, waiting with his sons.
He witnessed what he believes would have been the kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl who also waiting at the bus stop. Because Williams intervened, the girl is alive and well.
“I was in my role as a parent and I pulled up to the bus stop waiting for the bus with my two boys when I noticed a male subject walking back and forth, pacing back and forth,” Williams said. “He didn’t say anything to her. He grabbed her, puts his arm around her. He was trying to take her.”
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit, Nelson Perez Jr., was the man who was pacing. The affidavit lists his address as down the road from the bus stop at Allegheny Road and Greenfield Road near Kissimmee.
Officer. Williams said he had never seen Perez before.
Perez put his arms over the girl’s shoulders in a “bear hug” and touched her between her legs, according to Williams.
The 11-year-old told deputies “the suspect grabbed her and attempted to kidnap her... attempting to pick her up,” according to the affidavit. “The victim advised she felt the suspect lifting her up.”
When the girl fought back and “pushed his hand away,” Williams yelled.
“He takes off running, ran to the second block and I followed with my car,” Williams said.
Surveillance video from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office shows Perez running away, according to investigators, until Williams caught up and ordered him on the ground.
“I used my authority voice that we use in the jail,” Williams said. “I told him to come here. He came. He didn’t give me no struggle at that time.”
Williams said he held him until Polk County Sheriff’s deputies arrived while applying his Crisis Intervention Training.
“All he said is he didn’t want to go to jail,” Williams said. “That’s all he kept saying.”
According to the arrest affidavit, Perez later admitted to trying to touch the girl because it makes him feel “good” and “got mad at himself and felt like touching someone.”
Investigators said probable cause existed to charge Perez with attempted kidnapping and lewd molestation.
Polk County court records show Nelson Perez Jr. was headed for trial, but in August was ruled incompetent to stand trial by the judge, and committed to a Florida Department of Children and Families facility.
Williams believes the girl would have lost her innocence if he hadn’t stepped in.
“I think about it,” Williams said. “I mean, I look at my boys and I hug on them, and I would do it again over again. This is my community. A lot of people don’t know corrections officer that we are here but we are hidden. A lot of people don’t know there’s a lot of people behind the wall. They would do the same thing I would do. "