Kidnap Suspect Arrested for Prior Attempt

We’re learning more about the suspect accused of kidnapping and raping a ten year old girl.

He apparently knew deputies were looking for him.

The roommate of 23-year-old Kalvin Cardenas said the suspect was alarmed when the Fresno Sheriff’s SWAT team surrounded their house.

Cardenas surrendered after deputies fired tear gas into the home.

He is being held on more than half-a-million dollars bail for the kidnap and rape of a ten year old Fresno girl.

The child was grabbed as she walked to school.

CBS47 has learned more about the man accused of this horrendous crime.

Just after dawn, 23-year-old Kalvin Michael Cardenas backed out of a Clovis house where he rents a room. He shares the home with Travis Larson, who woke up to the sound of deputies on a bullhorn.

“He came barreling into my room,” Larson said of Cardenas.

Larson said Cardenas pleaded with him.

“He looked at me and said 'My truck, tell them it's yours, tell them it’s your truck. Cover for me man,’” Larson said.

Investigators say Cardenas parked his truck at an apartment complex near Cedar and Shaw.

“I noticed his car wasn't home. He rode in on a beach cruiser bicycle and said his car wasn't working,” Larson said.

The ten year old victim had described the suspect's truck - in detail.

The one she was thrown into and driven to a field more than 30 miles west of Fresno and sexually assaulted.

Cardenas faces nine felonies including kidnapping, rape, and lewd and lascivious acts with a juvenile under 14.

Cardenas was accused of trying to kidnap a girl in Dinuba in May.

That little girl was *also* walking to school. But she got away.

Cardenas was arrested for suspicion of annoying a minor but he was released, which frustrates parents in Dinuba.

"It's a shame, that you can do something like that and get released that easily," said Maria Luviano, a mother in Dinuba.

Travis Larson says Cardenas worked at a manufacturing plant in Southeast Fresno and was taking classes to become an insurance salesman.

There was no indication anything was wrong.

“Had I had any indication he was that kind of guy darn right I would have called it in,” Travis Larson said.

Kalvin Cardenas is being held on more than half a million dollars bail.