A Port Orange woman is facing charges after trying to abduct two children from a Volusia County beach park Monday afternoon, an official said.
Sarah Freeman, 34, attempted to grab a 7-year-old girl by the towel she was wearing, but the girl's pregnant mother pulled her daughter back, getting hit by Freeman in the process while at Toronita Avenue Beach Park in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Volusia sheriff's spokesman Andrew Gant said in a news release.
The girl's mother told deputies Freeman said something along the lines of: "This isn't a Florida trip you're going to want to remember."
Freeman then walked over to a man, struck him in the backside with a stick and said something like: "We don't know you around here," according to the release. Freeman then grabbed the man's 5-year-old son by the arm and said, "It will be all right. He's not your dad."
Freeman started walking away, but the man grabbed his son and put him back in the truck, which Freeman tried to get into via a passenger window, Gant said. A woman said Freeman then turned to her and said, "I'll just take your kid, then," but the woman and her child got into their vehicle and locked the doors.
Deputies took Freeman into custody about 1:30 p.m., just minutes after witnesses described the events to emergency dispatchers, Gant said. A deputy believes Freeman was under the influence of an unknown substance because, once in custody, she mumbled and made unintelligible statements.
Records show Freeman is charged with two counts of kidnapping, aggravated battery on a pregnant person, battery, burglary of a conveyance and contempt of court.
Freeman was booked Monday into the Volusia County Branch Jail without bail.
Records show Freeman since 2002 has been arrested in Volusia County more than a dozen times on mostly misdemeanor charges. She pleaded guilty to grand theft in 2013.