Leonardo Venegas, 35, was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for kidnapping a six-year-old girl outside her northeast Miami-Dade home in 2023. A jury convicted him last November after roughly two hours of deliberation.
Prosecutors said Venegas grabbed the girl while she played in her apartment courtyard, picked her up when she resisted, and slapped her before fleeing. The child bit him on the arm, causing him to drop her, a move she said her mother taught her.
At sentencing, Venegas’s family and friends described him as a kind, churchgoing man. Judge Lody Jean was unmoved. “Hope doesn’t help me protect the community,” he said, siding with prosecutors. Venegas was also designated a sexual predator. His attorney plans to appeal and noted he may face deportation to Argentina after serving his sentence.
