BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Cincinnati firefighter accused of snatching a 7-year-old girl from an Avondale sidewalk in an abduction attempt Friday has been suspended from the fire division.
Maurice Young, 40, of Silverton faces a kidnapping charge. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
"He's suspended pending his hearing," Fire Chief Robert Wright said. "It's part of his due process."
Police say Mr. Young, a divorced father of three, snatched the girl from Blair Avenue as she walked to her bus stop, stuffed a sock in her mouth and tried to drive off. Bystanders held him down until officers arrived, police say.
Investigators say that Mr. Young, a fire apparatus operator, was not in uniform at the time and that he did not know the girl. Police collected blankets, tape, latex gloves and other items from his car and served a search warrant at his house. The list of the evidence collected is sealed.
Mr. Young has no criminal record. His personnel file for his 18 years with the fire division includes minor reprimands for such issues as tardiness. It also contains a few commendations, including an award for his actions in a 1993 fire at the Swallen's warehouse on Wooster Pike in Fairfax.
Before joining the fire division in 1980, Mr. Young, a 1975 Aiken High School graduate, had been a steel worker and a salesman at Sears.
He is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center in lieu of $200,000 cash.
A grand jury is to decide on indictments by Monday.
