A man who tried to abduct two children within days of each other at the Westfield Mission Valley mall pleaded guilty this week to charges that include attempted kidnapping. Rene Arturo Lujan, 43, admitted to grabbing two girls on June 18 and June 20, 2024, leading to his arrest roughly two hours aft er the second kidnapping attempt. Lujan faces a maximum possible prison term of 12 years when he is sentenced in April. San Diego police said the first incident happened about 1:30 p.m. June 18, when a man grabbed a 6-year-old girl who was pushing her younger sibling in a stroller. Lt. Daniel Meyer said the suspect first walked past the girl and her family, then started following them and grabbed the girl. Meyer said the man carried her for a few feet until the girl started screaming, then he released her and ran off before fleeing the area in a black Chevrolet Volt. Two days later, police said Lujan tried to grab a 5-year-old girl at the mall around 2 p.m. and put her into a car, but an employee of a nearby business intervened. Meyer said the license plate number of the suspect’s car was entered into the police department’s automated license plate reader database, which alerted them that the car passed under a license plate reader in downtown San Diego. Officers pulled Lujan over about 4 p.m. as he was driving on eastbound state Route 94 near Home Avenue in the Mount Hope area and arrested him. ...read more read less