Background: The Shell gas station located at 5 North Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach, Florida (Google Maps). Inset: Ivanna Nobile (Broward County Sheriff”s Office).
A woman tried to kidnap a child from a Florida gas station, telling the 5-year-old boy’s grandmother to her face, “I’m taking him,” according to authorities.
Ivanna Nobile, 38, has been charged with false imprisonment of a child less than 13 years old and burglary, according to Broward County jail records.
It was Tuesday morning, and a woman was parked at the Shell gas station located at 5 North Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach to get gas. Her white Honda Pilot “began smoking,” so she asked someone for help, per a complaint affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime.
As she stood by the driver’s side of the vehicle, “she observed a lady approaching,” the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said. That woman, later revealed to be Nobile, handed her “what appeared to be an Argentinian identification,” telling her the person pictured was her aunt, though it is unclear what her purpose in doing so was.
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The grandmother admitted she did “not pay her much mind” until Nobile approached the passenger side of the Pilot and opened the rear passenger door, “where her grandson was seated,” the court document states.
According to the grandmother, she saw the woman grab her grandson’s arm and then said, “I’m taking him, this child is the wrong color to be with this woman.” The grandmother proceeded to stand in between Nobile and the child. There were multiple other gas station customers who reportedly witnessed the altercation.
One woman said she was pumping gas when she heard the grandmother “screaming for help stating that this woman was trying to kidnap her kid.” When the witness looked over, she saw the suspect “pulling on” the child’s arm, per the affidavit.
Officers arrived on the scene at about 9:30 a.m. after receiving a 911 call from the grandma. After they investigated, Nobile was detained, and she “refused to speak” with the officer writing the affidavit.
The grandmother said she has had custody of her grandson since January, and she had never met Nobile before the incident.
Nobile had no prior convictions, authorities said. She is currently being held for immigration purposes, jail records show.
