THIS is the horrifying moment a creep abducts a three-year-old girl from a mall.

Andres Caceres Jaldin, 26, is captured on CCTV grabbing the little girl after she wandered away from an indoor play area.

Horrifying footage released by cops shows the tot getting snatches as she began to waddle out of the play area towards the entrance of a JC Penney inside Fair Oaks Shopping Center, Virginia.

The stranger is seen following her while on his phone before bending down to pick her up.

With the three-year-old in his arms, he darts through the store.

The little girl’s dad soon realised his daughter was nowhere to be seen and called his wife, who was inside the department store shopping.

Luckily she spotted the Jaldin carrying the child on the store’s second floor and confronted him, according to court records seen by NBC.

Jaldin is said to have handed over the child without incident.

He also claimed he was just trying to help her find her parents, according to the criminal complaint.

Jaldin then fled the shopping center, taking off in a car he had stolen from a local auto shop before allegedly attempting to snatch the girl.

Cops were able to track the vehicle to an Extended Stay Hotel near Chantilly.

Jaldin was charged with abduction of a minor and grand larceny in the terrifying incident.

He is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.

The accused kidnapper has a history of violent assaults on his family members, according to court records.

He was charged with multiple counts of assault and battery, malicious wounding and property destruction in 2024.

Court records suggest the victims in that case were his mom, dad and brother.

And while he was out of jail and awaiting trial, he was also accused of assaulting his family, the records said.

Jaldin was diagnosed with schizophrenia after a psychiatric evaluation conducted as part of the criminal proceedings, NBC reports.

All the charges involving his family were eventually dropped.