MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 37-year-old man was arrested Thursday afternoon near a school in northwest Miami-Dade after police said he attempted to kidnap a student, prompting a campus lockdown.
Police said the victim had just gotten off her school bus and was walking to pick up her younger brother from Thomas Jefferson Biscayne Gardens K-8 Academy at 525 NW 147th St. when a man approached her.
Officers with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department said Paganini Keith Fleurantin followed the girl, called out to her and attempted to grab her.
Fearing for her safety, police said the girl ran back inside the school gates and called her mother.
Before fleeing the scene, Fleurantin shouted, “You will come back,” according to an arrest report.
Officers responded quickly, placing the school on lockdown as they searched for the suspect.
Police said Fleurantin was apprehended within 500 feet of the campus just before 3:15 p.m., the report stated.
The victim told investigators she believed Fleurantin was trying to “imprison her against her will,” police wrote in the report.
Police did not disclose the victim’s age in Fleurantin’s arrest report.
Jail records show Fleurantin is facing one count each of attempted kidnapping, assault, trespassing in a school safety zone, resisting an officer without violence, disruption or interference of an educational institution and luring or enticing a child.
Fleurantin’s attorney argued Friday that there was no probable cause for a kidnapping charge against his client, asserting instead that the case involved an assault.
The lawyer also disputed allegations that Fleurantin resisted an officer or committed any offenses on school grounds.
As of Friday, Fleurantin remains in custody at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bond is listed as “to be set.”
A state attorney requested a probable cause hearing and asked to have the officer testify in court. That hearing has since been scheduled for next week.