BELCHERTOWN – A 35-year-old man charged with breaking into an Amherst home early Saturday and attempting to abduct a toddler pleaded not guilty to a series of charges in two separate cases in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday.
Judge Bruce S. Melikian ordered Jimmy Lee Sanchez, whom police described as homeless, held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Monday.
Amherst police responded to a Spring Street home Saturday at around 2 a.m. for a reported intruder. The residents of the home said they were awakened by sounds of someone in their house and found a man they didn’t know on the second floor, dressed in dark clothing and holding their 20-month-old child, according to Amherst police.
The residents told police the man tried to leave the home with the toddler. They said they pursued him outside and were able to wrest the toddler from the man’s arms, suffering minor injuries. The man took off on foot, the residents told police.
After a daylong investigation, Amherst detectives identified the suspect as Sanchez and obtained a warrant for his arrest. University of Massachusetts police located Sanchez on Sunday on the university campus where he was arrested and charged with trespassing, breaking and entering in the nighttime for a felony and larceny from a building, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for March 22 in that case.
In the incident involving the toddler, Sanchez was charged with entering a dwelling in the nighttime for a felony, attempt to commit a crime (kidnapping), assault and battery, larceny from a building, and larceny under $1,200. More details were not available from the court as the statement of facts in the case was impounded, according to the district court clerk’s office.
Court documents show Sanchez is being represented by attorney Daniel M. Sandell, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.