SANFORD, Fla. - A convicted sex offender faces a mandatory life prison sentence after being convicted of breaking into a Casselberry home and grabbing a 2-year-old girl from her bed.
The girl's mother Norma Soriano woke up, screamed and grabbed her child out of the man's arms. Elliot Pietri, 36, was arrested a day later.
The victim's sister, then 8, was watching television in the same bed as her mother and the toddler when an intruder used a kitchen knife to pry open a door in the family's trailer two years ago. She identified Pietri from a photo lineup during the investigation but not in court.
She testified that the man grabbed her first, taking hold of her arm. She said she pulled away and the man snatched her sister. The older girl screamed, waking her mother. The woman said she got only a poor view of the man and couldn't identify him.
Defense attorney Michael Brothers insisted the older girl picked out Pietri's photo because she had seen him before at a neighbor's home about 10 miles north of Orlando.
Jurors weren't convinced. They deliberated two hours before finding Pietri guilty of breaking into the family's home and illegally touching the girls. He was acquitted of two counts of attempted kidnapping.
Pietri had been convicted of exposing himself to a 4-year-old girl in Lee County in 1996. He was on probation from stealing from his employer when he was arrested and also has a record for burglary, cocaine possession, loitering and shoplifting.
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Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http:// WWW.ORLANDOSENTINEL.COM
