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Florida couple tries to lure 9-year-old girl into van, police say: 'Grab the f****** kid'

By Dani Medina
Published  November 9, 2023 4:18pm EST
News
FOX 35 Orlando

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HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - A Florida couple has been arrested after they tried to lure a 9-year-old girl playing in her front yard into their van, according to police. 

Michael Diaz, 34, and Taiana Tersano, 31, were both arrested after the incident that unfolded on McKinley Street in Hollywood on Nov. 3, according to an arrest affidavit from the Hollywood Police Department obtained by FOX 35 News. 

Shortly before 4:30 p.m., a woman called 911 saying a van occupied by a man, woman and small child tried to lure her 9-year-old daughter into the van, the affidavit said. The girl, under the supervision of her mom's boyfriend, was playing in the front yard when the van pulled up. 

"Come here," Tersano told the girl in a "normal tone" after rolling her window down, according to the arrest report. The girl got scared and ran inside. 

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Photo: Broward County Jail

The woman was inside their house at the time, but came outside when she heard a woman screaming, the report said. She saw the woman in the van, later identified as Tersano, trying to approach her daughter – but she wasn't successful, since the boyfriend got in between them. 

"I'm going to come back and kill all of you," Tersano was heard saying, according to the report. 

Police spoke to a witness who saw the whole thing happen from a nearby stop sign. The mother's boyfriend, who was sitting in his car at the time, tried to deescalate the situation, but Tersano spit on him and punched him. 

The man in the van, identified as Diaz, was heard saying, "Grab the f------ kid," according to the arrest report.

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Photo: Broward County Jail

Tersano tried to make another attempt at approaching the 9-year-old, but the boyfriend "struck her in the face in self-defense," according to the affidavit. That's when Tersano ran back into the van and they fled. 

After giving their description to police, officers were able to find the van and conduct a traffic stop. That's when officers noticed the couple's 7-year-old child was in the back of the van, not seated and surrounded by "loose mechanical tools," according to the affidavit. Child protective investigators were contacted and the child was placed into their custody. 

Tersano was arrested and placed in a patrol car, but during the traffic stop, she jumped out of the car when the door opened and threw her body toward an officer, according to the police report. When police tried to put her back into the patrol car, she wrapped her legs around an officer's legs. She also laid flat in the backseat and struck an officer's hand with her feet. 

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When Diaz and Tersano were arrested, their van was towed. They were transported to the Broward County Jail. 

They were both charged with luring/enticing a child under the age of 12 and causing a child to become delinquent, according to arrest records. Tersano is facing two additional counts of resisting an officer with violence.