SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Monday was like any other day for Lauren Jope until a stranger came up to her and asked her to take care of a seven-year-old girl she’d never met.
It happened around 7:45 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of The Cinders Bar on Auburn Boulevard.
"I was just walking down the street and this car looked like it was out of gas and was just kind of pulling into the parking lot,” said Jope. “This guy asks me, ‘Hey, could you watch my car or can you go into the store with my daughter to buy a pair of shorts?’”
According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the man was the little girl’s grandfather, 54-year-old Jason Warren.
Investigators said he paid Jope $20 to take his granddaughter to a nearby thrift store while he went into the bar across the parking lot.
Later that afternoon, someone called deputies after Warren began asking for help because his granddaughter had been kidnapped for human trafficking.
“We get this frantic call of a seven-year-old that’s been kidnapped is what we’re coming for. We got all the resources coming out. We have our helicopter, we have our K-9, we have our drones out here,” said Sgt. Amar Gandhi with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies found the young girl with Jope about 30 minutes later. The girl spent about four hours with Jope who said she tried to return her to Warren, but he was too intoxicated and she didn’t feel safe leaving her with him.
Jope took the girl back to her campsite – within walking distance – when she heard the child’s name on a PA and returned her.
"After we’d gotten something to eat, we walked back up the hill and all the sudden the helicopter is going around and then, ‘Attention on the ground, attention on the ground,’ and it said her name and describes me,” said Jope.
The little girl was safely returned and Warren was arrested for felony child endangerment. Jope said she’s thankful she was in his path when he was looking for someone to take care of his granddaughter.
"I'm glad I was walking when I was because she could have been left with some man or someone who doesn't want to watch her, someone that doesn't really care,” said Jope.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the girl’s aunt had full custody of her and asked Warren to watch her because she had to go to work. She’s since returned home.
Jope told ABC10 she’s a student at American River College and is trying to find housing. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said they’re trying to connect her with resources now.
The sheriff’s office said people can reach out to them if you’d like to help her.
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