Dixon Surveillance Video Shows Man Ask 'How Much For The Little Girl?'

DIXON (CBS13) -- A creepy encounter has put a Dixon mother and her community on edge.

Surveillance video shows the encounter at Dixon Charity Shop.

With the owner's 8-year-old daughter eating ice cream at the front counter next to two employees, a man who appears to be a transient walks up to the front door and says is this the "little white girl kidnapping crew?"

Audio from the camera picks up his next question.

The man says, "how much for the little girl?"

Samantha Porto is the business owner and girl's mother.

"It hit me very hard," Porto said. "I chased him down immediately. My poor daughter had to deal with that, and she was petrified."

(credit: Samantha Porto)

Porto took a photo of the man standing on the street after he left her store.

"And I ran after him and gave him a few choice words and let him know 'don't come back near my daughter or my store,'" Porto said.

Porto also called the police. Officers questioned the man who would not give his name. They let him go, determining he broke no laws.

Dixon police Lieutenant Mike Tegeler says all Dixon officers are aware of the man and have a picture of him.

"Just saying stupid things sometimes, isn't illegal," Lt. Tegeler said. "It's enough to get our attention."

"He was told if he goes back that he can be placed under citizen's arrest for trespassing."

A civil harassment expert CBS13 spoke to said a judge would not grant a civil harassment order against the man unless it was clear he would repeat the action. And a judge would not grant an order against an unnamed transient.

"We don't know until we know, is anybody capable of kidnapping until they do it," Porto said. "I don't know."

A scary exchange targeting an innocent 8-year-old girl and a helpless feeling, he'll be back.

"Maybe he's not by law, committing or breaking any laws, but its very unnerving," Porto said. "And I don't feel safe."

Porto says social media posts have pointed to similar exchanges around Dixon with this man and children.

Wednesday morning, Porto says Dixon police called and informed her that the man had been arrested for doing the same thing to another child. He's now in jail on a nuisance charge, police told her.