Man facing charges after allegedly luring, attempting to forcibly keep 2 girls in his home

PITTSBURGH — A man is accused of luring two young girls into his home with candy and forcibly trying to make them stay.

John Carter, 60, allegedly invited Lyric, a 9-year-old girl and her 8-year-old friend inside his home for some candy on June 26.

"He had them sitting on some vibrating chair and my granddaughter ran out the house,” Lyric’s grandmother Kelley Oliver-Hollis told Channel 11’s Courtney Brennan.

When the other girl tried to run out of the house, Carter grabbed her arm.

"She started screaming for my daughter to help her, and my daughter said she took her shoe off and started hitting him with the shoe," Lyric’s mother Joelle Hollis said.

Lyric’s mother told Channel 11 that her daughter broke Carter’s grasp on the girl’s arm and the two ran down Madonna Street.

"He follows them and he tells my daughter she left her bag in his house and she said ‘I didn't leave my bag,’ coming around the corner," Joelle Hollis said.

Lyric’s mother and grandmother then called the police.

Neighbors told Channel 11 that someone set Carter’s vehicle on fire later that evening.

"It was blazing. He was running back and forth trying to throw buckets of water on it," neighbor Janet Brunson said.

Carter is a convicted sex offender and police said he is accused of raping a woman in April, but charges in that case were not filed until June.

The District Attorney’s Office told Channel 11 that it was not sure why charges weren’t filed immediately.

The girls knew Carter from around the neighborhood and he had done yard work for one of their family members previously, officials said.

Cox Media Group