CINCINNATI (Scripps News Cincinnati) — An Ohio woman is accused of trying to lure a 4-year-old boy from his home while impersonating a Child Protective Services worker.
Lisa Nacrelli, 44, was arrested and charged with child enticement after a Norwood family said she tried to get their son to come home with her. Some of the incidents were caught on the family’s surveillance camera.
Surveillance video provided by the Spradlin family appears to show Lisa Nacrelli speaking to their 4-year-old son. (Spradlin family/Scripps News Cincinnati)
“Mommy, mommy, there’s some lady here that wants to talk to you,” Jaimie Spradlin said her son told her Saturday afternoon. Home surveillance video captured the woman saying, “My name is Lisa, I’m from CPS.”
“She shows me a badge that says her name,” Jaimie Spradlin said. “She proceeds to rattle off my children’s names.”
Spradlin said the woman then asked her if she can come in the house for an inspection and that she was there because someone filed a complaint against them. However, the woman didn’t leave her contact info.
Spradlin and her husband felt something wasn’t right, so they looked at their surveillance video and felt even more uneasy after what they saw happened minutes earlier. Video appears to show the woman touching their son for minutes, putting her arm around him and stroking his hair.
“It creeps us out a little bit, it’s gut-wrenching,” said Tim Spradlin, the boy’s father.
“I’m absolutely sick to my stomach,” said Jaimie Spradlin.
The family did some checking and learned the woman was not from Child Protective Services.
“Everything was a lie, and now we’re sitting here on top of being enraged that this even happened, terrified because I don’t know what her plan was,” Jaimie Spradlin said. “I know that she told my son that she has a black vehicle and that there’s a really pretty car seat in it for him.”
A hand-written statement from Nacrelli filed in court documents says she’d been drinking since waking up that day.
“I walked to Kroger to get more beer, on the walk home I saw a young child that I felt wasn’t being supervised, so in an attempt to scare the parent I pretended to be from CPS,” reads the affidavit.
But the family said Nacrelli asked their son to come home with her three different times, but their son ended up running into the house and calling for his mom.
“Your intention was clearly to take my son, to convince him to walk down the street with you to this house, which I didn’t even know you lived this close which is terrifying in of itself,” said Jaimie Spradlin.
Scripps News Cincinnati confirmed Nacrelli lives blocks away from them. While the family said they still feel traumatized about what happened, they’re thankful their son’s instincts kicked in.
“I’ve told them over and over, ‘You know all of those bad words that mommy says? You scream those at the top of your lungs. Do you know why? Because it’s going to grab somebody’s attention that you’re in trouble,'” said Jaimie Spradlin.
Scripps News Cincinnati is waiting to hear back from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to see if they plan on filing a complaint against the woman for allegedly impersonating a CPS employee.
Nacrelli has been arrested before. Court documents show she’s been charged with disorderly conduct in 2005 after she “recklessly caused harm to another while intoxicated” and disorderly conduct because of public intoxication in 2011.
Nacrelli is being held in the Hamilton County jail on a $10,000 bond.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Cincinnati, an E.W. Scripps Company.
