Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputies were sent to Waverly around 1:30 Tuesday afternoon to investigate an attempted child abduction. Chief Deputy Ben Houchin says when they arrived the mother of a nine-year-old girl said her daughter ran into the house and locked the door.
When the looked out the window, Houchin says they saw a shadow of a man. He says the girl was riding her bike and a car kept circling her. “He then flashed money towards her as he drove by. The man then stopped and opened his trunk and wanted the child to come look in the trunk.”
Deputies eventually arrested 66 year old Ricky Muldoon of Lincoln in the area. He is a lifetime registered sex offender in Nebraska and has been arrested several times on sex offenses against children. “We can only suspect what he was going to do,” Houchin says.
He also praised the girl for getting herself out of the dangerous situation. “She trusted her feelings and instincts, fled the area and got help,” Houchin says. “She was watching her surroundings. For being nine-years-old she’s very observant and I’m very impressed with her.”
(Photo: Lancaster County Dep. of Corrections)