Man Accused Of Snatching Child At Church Claims He's No Predator, Just Misunderstood

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A man who police say snatched a child from the parking lot of a Sacramento church over the weekend insists he's not a predator, just misunderstood.

Parents at Calvary Christian Center say they watched in horror as Paul Nelson grabbed a 5-year-old boy in broad daylight.

"Grabbed kids and ran through the parking lot? I never did anything like that in my life. I never ran with anybody's kids. Period," he said.

He says he never snatched a child and ran through the parking lot on Saturday afternoon, and he's adamant about it.

"I'm a child-loving person," he said.

But he admits he did pick up a 2-year-old child without a mom's permission. He says he played with several children he didn't know.

"I picked him. Its a church. Its a loving place you know. Kids there having a good time. Trying to make them smile that's it," he said.

Witnesses say the mom was not smiling and told him to put her child down.

"When I picked the baby up at first she didn't say anything," he said.

Parishioners say when Nelson was confronted about handling the kids, he took off running, grabbing a 5-year-old boy along the way.

"And then all of a sudden they started chasing me out of the parking lot. I don't know what the big deal was," he said.

Parents say church staff had to wrestle the boy from Nelson.

"They were trying to get him as he was running and had a choke hold on the boy's neck," said church member Sonya Harris.

The staff held Nelson until police arrived. Cellphone video from a church member shows Nelson cuffed in the back seat of a police cruiser.

REPORTER: Don't you think it's strange for a man, a stranger, to just pick up a kid and it doesn't belong to him? Don't you think that's bizarre?

NELSON: It's a church environment I don't understand why it would be.

Nelson says if he's found not guilty, he will return to the church.

"I want to be a productive member in the church. I'm not going to let this mistake. These false allegations to stop me from being what God wants me to do. I'm not. I'm going back," he said.

Nelson's bail is set at $2 million. He'll face kidnapping charges in court on Tuesday.