A registered sex offender was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning after he allegedly crawled through a window into the bedroom of a 5-year-old-girl.
Daniel Diaz, 39, was arrested at a residence in the 8700 block of Charles Street in Stanislaus County, California, at around 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday after he was confronted and restrained by the girl's parents, according to local media.
Speaking through her eldest daughter Ceci Ramirez, Martha Zepeda, the mother of the girl, told ABC 10 that the 5-year-old's grandmother was sleeping in a back bedroom with her when she believed they were being watched by someone through an open window.
"He was in the living room window trying to peek in and he was grabbing his private parts and just looking around," Zepeda said, as she confirmed that the grandmother left the room and told the girl's father.
The father allegedly confronted Diaz and told him that he needed to leave their property or he would call the police.
The family thought the man had left, but, through a translation from Spanish by Ramirez, Zepeda said: "That's when they heard a giant, loud noise and that's when her husband went to go check."
When the girl's father reached her bedroom, he discovered that Diaz had removed the screen to open the window to the girl's room and had turned the lights on.
"The man turned on the lights and that's when my sister woke up and she got scared," Ramirez told CBS Sacramento about the incident.
The father allegedly forced Diaz outside of the house and managed to hold him on the ground, while Zepeda duct-taped him and Ramirez called the authorities.
The confrontation outside was captured by surveillance footage at the family's home, and showed Diaz restrained in the garden for around 15 minutes before the authorities arrived and arrested the 39-year-old.
"I was pretty scared because I thought the man would've taken and kidnapped her," Ramirez told CBS Sacramento, as she said that she was proud of her father for protecting their family.
A neighbor, Erica, said: "It's really sad that people are outside doing things like that."
"We're girls and we didn't know if it was going to happen to us. It could've been us," she added.
Diaz is a registered sex offender and was previously convicted of assault with intent to commit rape in 2009, before being released from prison in 2018, according to ABC 10.
He is now facing charges including, suspicion of home invasion, child endangerment, peeping and prowling.
Newsweek has contacted the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office for comment.
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