WINCHESTER, Ky. (LEX 18) — Parents in Winchester are concerned after two men were charged with kidnapping for grabbing a boy and holding him down at a popular playground.
On what should have been a busy Spring day, the Legacy Grove Park sat quieter than parents expected Tuesday. Parents told LEX 18 they believe other parents were driven away after hearing about the arrest.
“It's still sad and makes you think — I have five little girls. It's hard to watch five little girls with two parents,” Jeff Brooks said. “It's hard to keep up with them all and have to worry about what happened yesterday.”
In response, he only brought three of his girls to the park Tuesday, unlike the day before.
Police said 23-year-old Rahul Rahul and 21-year-old Arvind Arvind were both charged with kidnapping. They remain in jail.
The men waited on top of a slide for kids, police said in charging documents. The boy told them one of the men held him down by his wrists and took a picture with him. Police found photos on one of the man’s phones.
“I would've ran and I would've gotten there way before the police and I would've been in jail with the person,” Brooks said.
The mother told police she called for her child but he was scared to move because one of the men had his arm around him. The boy was terrified, police said.
One of the men told police they picked the child because he was “cute.”
“Oh my gosh that's disgusting,” parent Heather Burton said. “That's just horrible, I don't even know what to say to that, that's just how sad our society is becoming.”
Rahul and Arvind were arraigned Monday. Both suspects entered not-guilty pleas and are due back in court on April 12. The judge overruled a motion to reduce Rahul's bond.
