Man Arrested At North Austin Library Branch Wanted To Rape Girl: Police [UPDATED]

NORTH AUSTIN, TX -- More harrowing details have emerged related to the man arrested Saturday at a North Austin library branch for attempted kidnapping of a child: He followed a little girl into a bathroom and held her against her will inside a stall, police said.

Hubert Justin Powell, 30, was arrested Saturday at the North Village Branch Library at 2505 Steck Ave., at 1:24 p.m., police previously reported. According to police, the eight-year-old victim told police she had just exited a bathroom stall when Powell walked in and forced her back in.

“(The) victim stated that she was able to scream once and then the man covered her mouth hard with both hands so that nobody could hear her,” the affidavit reads, as reported by the Statesman. Upon hearing the girl scream, several people rushed to help the child, according to the affidavit.

A woman who rushed into the bathroom told police she saw the man, later identified as Powell, with his back firmly pressed against the stall door and his feet on the toilet, according to police. Once the girl was pulled out, others guarded the door to prevent Powell's escape before police arrived, police said.

According to police, Powell confessed to them he had hoped to rape the girl. He's now being held at the Travis County Jail under a $320,000 bail.

From Sept. 25:

NORTH AUSTIN, TX -- The normally silence environs of the North Village library branch were shattered Saturday with a disturbance that led to the arrest of a man on suspicions of kidnapping.

CBS Austin reported that police got a call close to 1:30 p.m. over the weekend to report a disturbance. Hubert Justin Powell, 30, was subsequently arrested at the library branch on Steck Avenue under suspicion of aggravated kidnapping of a child, the news station reports.

Police have not released further details about the incident. They only said the child is between the ages of 5 and 10 years old, and didn't identify the gender of the child either, the news station reported.

As soon as more details are released, Patch will update.

>>> Read the full story at CBS Austin

Booking photo via Austin Police Department