EAST HARLEM, Manhattan — Police have launched an investigation into an alleged sex abuse of a 9-year-old girl at an East Harlem apartment building Thursday night.
It happened around 8 p.m. at an apartment in the vicinity of Madison and Park avenues in East Harlem.
Authorities responded to a call of a possible abduction, but when people arrived, the child was back wit her family, police said.
According to police, the young girl left her apartment to throw out the trash. During that time, a man came out of the elevator and asked the child where her parents were.
When the girl told him they were inside their apartment, the man led her downstairs to the lobby and then outside through the rear door of the building, police said.
The man began to touch the child inappropriately, said police.
After the girl was gone for some time, the father began to search for his daughter, according to authorities.
As the child’s father yelled for the girl, the suspect ran off, police said.
The girl was reunited with her parents and taken to the hospital for evaluation. No injuries were reported.
