Alleged child predator arrested - NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News

An accused child predator and burglar is off the streets of Richmond - and the story behind his capture has many twists and turns.

A judge denied bond for Mustapha Shabazz. He remains at the Richmond City Jail. He's facing attempted sodomy of a child under the age of 13, breaking and entering and grand larceny charges.

The charges are from separate incidents. One crime helped police get evidence for another.

Mustapha Shabazz's alleged crime spree began in mid-August in the city's east end, not far from the home where he was staying.

Shabazz became a person of interest in a commercial breaking and entering on Williamsburg Road. Police say he had asked about some items while he was at the business and then that very weekend it was burglarized.

Police didn't have enough evidence to arrest him.

Less than two weeks later, and not even a mile away, RPD ran into another connection.

On August 23, officers were called to the 1000 block of Nelson Street for an attempted sodomy of a child. Warrants were taken out for Shabazz's arrest and he was staying at the same house as his alleged juvenile victim.

Lt. Daniel Minton said Shabazz fled - but while investigators were at the scene, they found evidence of the previous breaking and entering.

"The next morning we went out to the community," Minton described. "We talked to different people in the community. We warned them that Mr. Shabazz was wanted for what he tried to do to the child the night before. Within hours, we started getting phone calls about his whereabouts."

Within 24 hours, Shabazz was picked up in Hillside Court. Minton believes neighbors in the Fulton area cooperated because they were fed up and took the crimes personally.

"It's one thing to victimize another adult but it's certainly another level to victimize a child," he added. "If we can prevent him from ever doing anything to a child again, that's certainly a feather in our cap."

Lt. Minton has not released many details about the incident in order to protect the child victim, except that Shabazz is not related to the alleged victim.

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