Man Caught on Video Trying to Kidnap 13-Year-Old Girl at Dollar General
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight, caught on video. Shocking footage captures a 30-year-old perv stalking, then suddenly grabbing a little girl, dragging the girl across the floor of a Florida Dollar General store, when suddenly, her mother catches on and tries desperately to stop him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shopping with her mom one minute, terrified by a crazed man bent on kidnapping her the next. You can see him attack from behind, grabbing the girl`s arm and pulling her with him. Her mother soon joins in, and the three are launched into a violent tug-of-war.</s>GRACE: Did 37-year-old yoga guru Alexandria Duval intentionally drive her gorgeous identical twin sister off a 200-foot cliff, plunging their Ford Explorer onto a rocky shore?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The two girls were sitting in a car together. One was driving and one was a passenger. The sister was pulling her sister`s hair, apparently. And when she took off, it was in a rage.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plowed through the rock wall, falling 200 feet to the shoreline below.</s>GRACE: Stanford University ex-champion swimmer gets a slap on the wrist for raping an unconscious woman, a slap on the wrist -- six months in county jail after a jury finds him guilty on three felony sex attacks on an unconscious girl outside a frat party. To top it all off, the perp`s dad writes, "Prison is a steep price for just 20 minutes of action." We dig up the champion swimmer turned rapist`s original mugshot, and it`s not the glamour shot he wants you to see, this as a move afoot to get that judge off the bench. Bombshell now. The Good Samaritan grad student who saves the victim says she was unconscious the entire time, even breaking down in tears as he recalls the moment they saved the girl. Can the judge`s slap on the wrist actually be thrown out over allegations the rapist actually lied to the judge? We learn reports of drug and alcohol abuse allegations and uncover this judge allowed scantily clad photos, underwear photos of an alleged gang rape victim to be shown in court. What was he thinking? Ladies, do you want a shot of you in your underwear in front of a jury during a rape trial? Think about it! Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight, caught on video. Shocking footage captures a 30-year- old perv stalking, then suddenly grabbing a little girl, dragging her across the floor of a Florida Dollar General, when suddenly, her own mother catches on to what`s going on and fights tooth and nail to stop the guy. First of all, let`s take a look at the video from the get-go. Here he is. OK, now, that`s the end of the video. There he is, going up and down the aisles as if he`s shopping. Oh, yes, there`s a fake yawn and a stretch. What he`s actually doing is scoping out the little girl. Keep looking. Keep looking. He`s trying to get closer to her. All of a sudden -- suddenly, there, between two aisles, he grabs the girl. He`s got her by her clothes and he`s dragging her out the door. The girl can`t get loose. Finally, the mother throws herself -- throws herself on him in a desperate attempt to try and save the little girl as she`s being dragged out the door. To Ray Caputo, reporter, WDBO -- Ray, where was this?</s>RAY CAPUTO, WDBO (via telephone): Oh, Nancy, this is absolutely ridiculous. It happened just before noon yesterday. The suspect, Craig Bonello, was in a Dollar General store along with this mother and her daughter. This was in Hernando County (ph). It`s a rural town. This sort of thing doesn`t happen.</s>GRACE: Rural? A rural town? That, in itself, is highly unusual, that a stalker, a kidnapper, a child predator would appear in a rural area at this Dollar General. Long story short, that`s almost unheard of where the crime rates are so low. Back to you, Caputo. Where, again, is this?</s>CAPUTO: It`s north of Tampa. It`s a small, little rural town called Hernando. You know, it`s near a state park, near the coast. You know, and -- you know, this sort of thing doesn`t happen there. And out of nowhere, this explosive video of this guy attacking this young girl is so out of the ordinary and so shocking.</s>GRACE: Take a look at what he`s doing. He is very intentionally following them around. As he just goes out of sight -- there he goes! Did you see that in the corner? That`s when he grabs her between two aisles. Here you go. Thanks, Liz. Take a look at the little girl trying to get away. The mom is trying to stop, but she can`t. She can`t get his hands off her little girl. Look. Look. He`s dragging the two of them straight to the door. So Ray Caputo, who is this guy? Who is Bonello, a 30-year-old man? Who is he? What do we know?</s>CAPUTO: Well, Nancy, he`s had several run-ins with the law. You know, his neighbors have said he`s a strange guy who keeps to himself. His own uncle has said that Bonello has some issues and needs to get help. You know, the bottom line is the guy`s a bit off. Especially after seeing what he did in the video, you can kind of make that assessment.</s>GRACE: Well, hold on. Look, everything`s always been dropped, disorderly, intoxication, resisting an officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. I mean, his history goes back, what is this, seven years, when he was in his early 20s. And he clearly knows what he`s doing. Look. Look! He`s stalking. He`s been following them around the whole time they`ve been in the Dollar General. From the very beginning, he`s only been one aisle away from the little girl. At first, the mom didn`t even realize what was happening. Look at that! The mom screaming, chasing him, but she could not get the little girl away from him. So Ray Caputo, when you say he`s a little off, I mean, I guess the fact that he tries to kidnap, does kidnap a little girl from a Dollar General in plain view, he wants the little girl so badly -- if you call that "off," fine. I call it a child predator. So I guess your argument, Ray Caputo, would be what, every child predator has a mental defect?</s>CAPUTO: No, Nancy. Well, here`s the thing is that he`s not a sex offender. You know, he has had several run-ins with the law. He`s no altar boy. His most serious charge is battery on a law enforcement officer. You know, his charges, trespassing. It`s lot of misdemeanors, but certainly nothing like what he`s accused of doing here.</s>GRACE: Hold on! Ray Caputo, you say he`s no sex offender. Can I ask you this? What do you think he was doing, taking her out for an ice cream?</s>CAPUTO: Well, Nancy, it`s clear that he did not have good intentions and you know...</s>GRACE: No, break it down. Break it down! When you say he did not have good intentions, what else would he be doing with the little girl, taking her out to either molest her or kill her. He`s already, under the law, kidnapped her, end of story. And he`s caught on video. But you say he`s no sex offender. OK, then let`s follow through the logical end to your statement. What do you think, Ray Caputo? Why else would he drag her out, being attacked by the mother, and actually, the mom can`t stop him -- why do you think he`s taking her out?</s>CAPUTO: Well, Nancy, again, I think that he has the worst intentions in mind. But you know, also, there`s another side to it. I mean, he`s a bit off, and he could be doing this for attention. I mean, nowadays, when these videos -- he had to have known that there`s videos in this store. This is in broad daylight, mind you. I don`t know what`s going through this guy`s head, but there`s...</s>GRACE: Wait a minute. So you`re saying that you believe there`s a chance he did this for attention because he must have known there was a videocamera. Ray Caputo, you don`t really believe that, do you? You`re just arguing for argument`s sake, right?</s>CAPUTO: My job is to present all sides of the story, Nancy.</s>GRACE: OK, you`re right, Ray. You`re right. Unleash the lawyers, Janet Johnson, veteran defense attorney out of Jacksonville, Jeff Gold, defense attorney out of New York, and also joining us out of Phoenix, certified child welfare law specialist Ashley Willcott. To all of you, thank you for being with us. All right, Janet Johnson, I`ll let you take the first crack at it. What could possible be his defense? Because he does not have a mental defect, OK?</s>JANET JOHNSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, how are we eliminating that? I mean it`s just as obviously as a mental defect as evidence that he`s perverted. There was nothing sexual in that video. It was off. And I think, you know, I`m agreeing with Ray on this, he clearly has a mental health problem. He batters cops. But he has not been a known pervert. And just because she`s a little girl does not mean his intentions were to molest her...</s>GRACE: Look at that big, fake yawn and stretch as he`s stalking her. He stuck with them one aisle away the entire time. Watch this! As you`re watching it, Janet Johnson, who says he`s not a perv, give me one good reason, one legitimate reason he would kidnap this child. Give me one!</s>JOHNSON: He`s delusional. Maybe he doesn`t even know that he`s kidnapping a child.</s>GRACE: Oh. OK. May I ask you, Janet Johnson, are you privy to some document that says he`s ever been treated for a mental illness ever? Because I don`t have that.</s>JOHNSON: Well, but you know, when you say his charges were dropped...</s>GRACE: That`s a yes/no.</s>JOHNSON: I`m not privy.</s>GRACE: ... a no.</s>JOHNSON: ... face that his charges are dropped -- well, maybe. Maybe. That`s an answer, too.</s>GRACE: Maybe you know something, but what, you`re not telling? You`re keeping it a secret?</s>JOHNSON: Well, in Florida, where I practice, sometimes they don`t bother to get an evaluation. It`s too expensive. And they just drop the charges when there`s mental health problems.</s>GRACE: I`ve never heard of Lady Justice dropping a charge because to get a mental health evaluation is too expensive. Ashley Willcott, certified child welfare law specialist, you and I have seen this over and over and over and over. The only thing they can argue, Ashley, is that there must -- he must be insane. You know why? If it weren`t caught on video, they`d say it didn`t happen, there`s no proof. It`s the little girl`s word against his. But since it is caught on video, their back`s against the wall. They`ve got to argue something, so -- what do you think, Willcott?</s>ASHLEY WILLCOTT, CERTIFIED CHILD WELFARE LAW SPECIALIST (via telephone): Right, Nancy, I completely agree. But listen, just because he is not listed as a prior sex offender does not mean that he`s never done this before. He might have done this to other children before. It might have not have been recorded. He might not have been prosecuted. He may not have been convicted. So it`s not fair to say, just because he`s not a registered sex offender, he`s never perped on a child before.</s>GRACE: Yes, I find it very difficult to believe -- to Dr. Charles Sophy, psychiatrist out of LA -- that this is his first time at the rodeo, you know, that suddenly, he goes from -- I mean, he`s got a criminal history -- that he goes from no sex offenses to kidnapping a little girl in broad daylight.</s>DR. CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST: I fully agree. I mean, if you look at the way he goes about all this, it`s way too premeditated. He`s yawning. He`s scoping out the area. He doesn`t have a mental illness per se. He has a premeditation and thought process going on. He`s looking to attack for a reason.</s>GRACE: You know, Jeff Gold, you`re a JD. Sophy`s an MD. Do you take issue with what he said?</s>JEFF GOLD, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, this is the craziest video I`ve ever seen. I don`t know if he`s crazy, but if I`m a defense attorney, that`s where I`m going to go because I -- it`s broad daylight. He knows these stores have video. He`s grabbing from the mom! And it`s not like the mom resists and he goes, Oh, OK, I`m leaving. He`s trying to pull that kid! It`s ridiculously crazy. I don`t know if he`s insane legally, but that`s where you got to go.