Federal marshals early Friday arrested a 28-year-old Atlanta man wanted in connection with the attempted abduction of a 12-year-old girl who was walking to school on the city's southwest side last week, police said.

Jatari Kinard Molden was taken into custody about 5 a.m. by the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, according Officer John Chafee, spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department.

Chafee said a tip called into Atlanta Crime Stoppers led investigators to Molden, who was arrested at 490 Glenn St. in southwest Atlanta. The police spokesman could not say if the man lived at that location.

The investigation began the morning of Jan. 12 when the 12-year-old, who was walking to Sylvan Hills Middle School, was approached by a man driving a silver compact vehicle near Sylvan road and Byron Drive.

The suspect pulled up and told the girl to get in, police said. When the child refused, the man allegedly threatened to harm her. She called 911 from her cell phone, and the suspect fled.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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