Published: 03/22/2021 4:06:25 PM
BELCHERTOWN – An Amherst man who allegedly tried to kidnap a toddler from a downtown home during a break-in earlier this month is being held without bail until late April.
At a dangerous hearing in Eastern Hampshire District Court before Judge William Rooney on Monday, Jimmy Lee Sanchez was ordered to remain in custody until his April 27 pretrial hearing, said Northwest prosecutor’s spokeswoman Mary Carey.
Sanchez, 35, was arrested on March 14 on multiple charges after Amherst police responded to a Spring Street house about 2 a.m. the previous day about a reported intruder. Residents told police they were woken up by noise from someone in their home and found a man on the second floor they did not know who was wearing dark clothes and was holding their 20-month-old child.
They said the man tried to walk their child and they chased him outside and were able to wrestle the toddler out of the toddler’s arms, sustaining minor injuries. The man started on foot.
Sanchez was taken into custody during an unrelated incident on the University of Massachusetts campus the following day for being trod in, broken, and entered for a crime and theft from a building during the night.
Due to the incident with the toddler, Sanchez was arrested for entering an apartment at night for a crime, attempting to commit a crime (kidnapping), assault and battery, theft from a building, and theft under $ 1,200.
Sanchez, who will also be undergoing a mental health exam, will continue to be held at the Hampshire Jail and House of Correction despite his attorneys filing an application to move to the Franklin County House of Correction, Carey said.
The judge said he would allow the application, but the state Justice Department will decide whether to move Sanchez to the greenfield facility.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at [email protected].
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