Lifelong criminal accused of trying to kidnap 13-year-old girl in north Harris County

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The man accused of trying to kidnap a 13-year-old girl from a north Harris County apartment complex was arrested Thursday, the Harris County Sheriff's Office announced.

Stanley Dotson, 41, is charged with attempted kidnapping. Court records show he's been arrested at least 26 times, starting when he was just 13.

In 2022, Dotson was arrested for indecent exposure, but the charge was later dismissed.

A woman living at the Bella Vida Apartments on Ella Boulevard recorded video of a man the sheriff's office identified as Dotson fiddling with his pants prior to the attempted kidnapping. She told Eyewitness News that the man had been touching himself outside her window.

Pedro Basulto said his 13-year-old daughter was riding her electric scooter at about 8 p.m. Saturday with a 9-year-old friend when the man grabbed his daughter and knocked her to the ground.

When the girl got up, Basulto said the suspect grabbed her again. She managed to pull free, he said, and took off running.

Her escape was short-lived, however. Basulto said the suspect caught up with his daughter and pulled her to the ground a second time.

He said she was only saved when another man stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, which spooked Dotson, causing him to take off running.

Basulto said the suspect was already gone when he made it outside his apartment.

"Thank God, I don't know why destiny didn't want me to find him because bad things would have happened," Basulto told Eyewitness News in Spanish.

Apartment managers shared a photo of Dotson in an email to tenants on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said it had received an anonymous tip identifying Dotson as the man in the photo.

Thursday morning, the Violent Offenders Unit arrested him at his apartment on Airtex, which was less than a mile from the Bella Vida Apartments. A neighbor said deputies had to break down Dotson's door to get him out.

As of Thursday evening, Dotson remains in the Harris County Jail.

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