Elderly Man Kidnapped, Molested Queens 5-Year-Old: DA

QUEENS, NY — An elderly Queens man kidnapped and molested a 5-year-old girl he was supposed to take to a park, police and prosecutors said.

Franz Vila, 75, appeared in court Thursday for arraignment on a slew of charges, including predatory sexual assault and kidnapping.

His court appearance came two days after a frantic citywide search Tuesday for the young child that ended with Vila's arrest in a Queens train station.

A criminal complaint states the girl's mother bumped into Vila — a neighbor, according to the New York Daily News — while they walked home from a Jackson Heights FoodTown supermarket. She entrusted him to take her daughter to a local park and take her back in 30 minutes, according to the report.

But, instead, police believe Vila took the girl to his East 97th Street apartment where he sexually abused her, documents state.

As this unfolded, the mother reported her daughter missing and police released photographs of the girl and Vila from their supermarket meetup, authorities said.

A good Samaritan spotted the pair at the 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue subway station and alerted cops, who arrested Vila, documents sate.

Police also arrested the girl's mother, 30, on a requested charge of acting in a manner injurious to a child, according to the report. Queens prosecutors dropped the charge, the Daily News reported.

Vila faces charges of kidnapping, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and acting in a manner to injure a child under 17, authorities said.

His case is being handled by the Manhattan district attorney's office because the sexual assault unfolded in his East 97th Street apartment, authorities said. He also has a home in Jackson Heights, the Daily News reported.