Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit has identified the suspect as 44-year-old Robert Alvarez of New York City. Alvarez was charged with sexual assault and remains in police custody.
About 10 Saturday night, police found Alvarez, a registered sex offender, along with the boy inside a van at Hayworth and Rutland streets. Two people who live in the neighborhood called police after spotting the van with New York license plates and becoming suspicious about it.
"When I was walking by, I saw the kid in the van, and then he closed up the van, and said get inside, and that's when I realized something was wrong," Luis Colon told Action News.
"The cops came, they drug the guy out of the van," said Vanessa Gonzalez. "The little boy came out, he was shaking, he was terrified."
Police tell Action News Alvarez is a registered sex offender in New York City and was visiting friends in Philadelphia.
The witnesses tell Action News it took them 3 calls to police to get officers on the scene.
