13-Year-Old Girl's Kidnapper, Assaulter Gets 35 Years In Prison

LONG BEACH, CA — A man who kidnapped a 13-year-old girl in Texas and repeatedly sexually assaulted her while driving to Long Beach, where she was rescued, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison.

Steven Robert Sablan, 63 of Cleburne, Texas, pleaded guilty last year to kidnapping.

According to federal prosecutors, the girl was at a bus stop in San Antonio, Texas on July 6 when Sabalan approached her, pointed a gun at her and demanded she get into his car. In the car, the girl told Sablan that she was 13, prosecutors said.

The girl also told him she had a friend in Australia, and Sablan allegedly told her that he could take her to a cruise ship so she could visit the friend, "but she had to do something for him first," prosecutors said.

Sablan allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl and began driving her to California, sexually assaulting her at least two more times along the way, according to prosecutors.

On July 9, 2023, Long Beach police received a call from a member of the public at a laundromat who said they saw a young girl who was visibly emotional and distressed in a car in a parking lot holding up a note that said "help me."

Responding officers found the girl, and she mouthed the word "help" to them, according to prosecutors.

Long Beach police located and arrested Sablan.

Officers searching the suspect's car found the girl's "help me" note, as well as a black BB gun and a pair of handcuffs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors said the girl had been reported as a runaway in San Antonio.

City News Service contributed to this report.