Kidnapping arrest: Man says he accidentally took child

A FOX 10 EXCLUSIVE

PHOENIX (KSAZ) -- Patrolling the right place at the right time.

A Phoenix police officer stopped a man riding a bicycle after he noticed the man was carrying a toddler on his lap.

Turns out that toddler had allegedly been kidnapped out of her own home in the middle of the night!

Police believe the man walked into the girl's home near 3rd Street and Virginia through an unlocked door and took her.

An officer on his way to a burglary call noticed the man riding a bike in the middle of the night with the 4-year-old girl with curly blonde hair sitting on his lap, still in her pajamas.

37-year-old Daniel Luna is accused of kidnapping the girl just before 3 a.m. Sunday. Investigators believe he took the girl while her parents were sleeping.

"This piece of garbage who was drunk on a bike, skirkin' around our neighborhood," said the victim's father, who did not want to be identified.

The victim's father says his little girl is back home and safe thanks to that observant police officer. He stopped Luna and asked why the girl in her pajamas and barefoot was riding with him on his bike.

"Totally grateful," he said. "She's safe. Time will tell how well she's doing."

Police say Luna told them he found the girl wandering around outside, but the officer noticed the girl's feet weren't dirty.

Investigators say Luna then changed his story and told them he was "bar hopping" and went into the wrong home because he thought he lived there and also thought the little girl was his stepdaughter. Luna lives more than a mile away.

"Definitely lock all your doors at night. Don't be complacent. Dead lock them, dead bolt them from the inside and out," said the girl's father.

Officers say when they interviewed the 4-year-old -- who wasn't hurt -- she told them, "The bad man took me out of the home and the police officer saved me."

Police stopped Luna about a block away from the girl's home. The girl's parents did wake up to realize she was missing and ran outside. By that time, police already had her and were bringing her back home.