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Girl Testifies Against Man Who Tried to Abduct Her

Girl Testifies Against Man Who Tried to Abduct Her - Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 5:15PM EST

EDWARDSVILLE, LUZERNE COUNTY- An Edwardsville man will head to trial for an attempted abduction. Police say Keith Coote assaulted a 9-year-old girl in March. That girl took the stand in Coote's preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon.
This is a story you saw first on Eyewitness News. Coote told us his side of the story days before his arrested. What he told us and the evidence he showed us was used in court.

Keith Coote says he didn't do it. "I'm innocent man, I'm innocent. You know they keep saying it was a white guy, it wasn't me man," he told our camera.

But police say Coote snatched a 9-year-old girl from her bus stop in Edwardsville. That 9-year-old took the stand against Coote on Wednesday. The girl says she was sexually assaulted on Price Street in Edwardsville before running away. Then hours later her jacket was found stuffed in a storm drain in Edwardsville.

The person who says he found it was Keith Coote. He showed us the jacket the day of the reported kidnapping. Coote told police he saw a white man run off after ditching the jacket.

The victim originally told police it was a white man who attacked her. Coote's defense lawyer. Mark Mack, says that's the person police should be looking for. "I feel that this person, whoever it is, is still out on the loose. I think at this point we're going to everything we can. It's going to be a fight to the finish," said Mack.

But the victim says Coote threatened to kill her family if she told police. She says that's why she gave a different attacker description.

Police say two eyewitnesses told them Coote was at the kidnapping scene. They hope this case will remind parents to stay alert. Edwardsville Patrolman Mike Lehman said, "Be proactive. Know where your kids are, know what they're doing. Walk them to the bus stops and you know stuff like that, because we in this case, we might not have been here today."

Coote is allowed to post $300,000 bail, but he's still locked up in Luzerne County Prison.
 


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