A couple who police say kidnapped and sexually assaulted a mentally disabled 11-year-old girl in Miami have been arrested in New Orleans, authorities said Friday.
Nicole Jimenez, 26, and Juan Jose Jimenez, 38, are being held in New Orleans on charges related to the June 6 incident, Miami Police said at a news conference Friday. They will be returned to Miami and it's unknown whether they have an attorney.
Police said the girl was taken from the sidewalk as she walked home in the area of Northwest 15th Avenue and Northwest 50th Street in Allapattah.
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Security camera video from a nearby home captured the vehicle the two suspects were driving, police said. The video shows the silver or grey SUV stop next to the girl and she approached it moments later.
Authorities said one of the suspects was able to coax the girl into the SUV. She was taken to an undisclosed abandoned home and assaulted for hours, before the suspects dropped her off in the same neighborhood where she was taken.
The girl was able to provide detectives with enough information for police to create sketches of the suspects, and they were arrested on July 30 following a tip, Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa said.
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During Friday's news conference, Orosa said detectives are concerned the couple may have done the same thing to other children.
"We don't know if there's more children out there that were abused by these two individuals," Orosa said. "I do not believe that a man and wife all of the sudden decide to go pick up little kids and abuse them. I believe that usually there's a time involved, a pattern involved, that it probably happened before."
"A crime against a child is the worst, but a crime against a child with special needs is something that we have to take very seriously," Mayor Tomas Regalado said.
Orosa said in addition to any other possible victims, they're still trying to locate the house where the girl was taken. Anyone with information is asked to call Miami Police at 305-603-6300.
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Nicole Jimenez was in court in New Orleans as the process to bring the couple back to South Florida is underway.
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