NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A Queens man was sentenced for attempting to kidnap a 5-year-old boy, a stranger he grabbed off the sidewalk in Richmond Hill in July 2021, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
James McGonagle, 27, pleaded guilty last year to attempted kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to court documents, on July 15, 2021, around 8 p.m., video footage showed McGonagle parked in a red Nissan near the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Bessemer Street. He exited the car and ran toward the 5-year-old victim, who was walking with his mother and two siblings.
McGonagle grabbed the child and placed him in the back seat of the car, according to prosecutors. The boy's mother immediately followed and struggled to pull her son out of the vehicle.
According to court records, a brief but intense struggle broke out as McGonagle and the child's mother wrestled over the boy, pulling him back and forth. The boy's mother and siblings managed to rescue him through the car's front passenger window.
McGonagle fled the scene in his car but was arrested the following day at a hospital in Brooklyn.
"The child's mother and siblings bravely fought McGonagle off as they rescued the boy from the defendant's car," Katz said in a statement. "The defendant needlessly terrorized this child, his family, and the entire community with his reckless behavior. With this sentence, James McGonagle will face justice for his crimes."
The judge ordered that McGonagle must register as a sex offender upon his release.
