Alleged child kidnapper arraigned

A mother faced “a parent’s worst nightmare” this week when a registered sex offender attempted to kidnap her 8-year-old son from an apartment complex laundry room, according to authorities.

Michael Bland, 31, entered the room Monday night “with them, locked the door and turned off all the lights …. (Then he) grabbed the 8-year-old boy and pulled him outside. The mother rushed out to grab her son and struggled with Michael,” said Madera Police Cpl. Nick Webster.

Bland, who is 6 foot 1 inch tall and weighs 220 lb., allegedly struck her before letting go of her son. When police officers later arrived, they found and arrested Bland in the apartment complex, which is in the 300 block of N. B St.

The mother and son said they’d never seen Bland before, according to KFSN-TV. Bland reportedly finished a prison sentence in 2012 for lewd acts with a child under 14 years old and has since been a transient.

The Madera County District Attorney’s office filed felony criminal charges against Bland before assistant presiding judge Dale J. Blea on Thursday afternoon in Madera County Superior Court, Dept. 22. Bland faces charges of kidnapping, forceful assault and willful harm to a child likely to produce great bodily injury, battery, false identification to an officer, and violation of post-release community supervision.

Bail has been set at $150,000 for each felony except for that of violating his supervision, for which no bond had been set as of midday Friday.