21-year-old man sentenced after attempted kidnapping of Warsaw middle schooler

Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 2:16 PM

By Shelby Lopez

A South Bend man was sentenced to one and a half years in prison this week after he attempted to kidnap a Warsaw middle schooler from school officials in September.

According to court documents, Marco Sanchez-Hernandez, 21, of South Bend, was sentenced in Kosciusko Superior Court on Tuesday, Jan. 13. Sanchez-Hernandez was charged with attempted kidnapping, a Level 5 Felony; and possession of child sexual abuse materials and obstruction of justice, both Level 6 Felonies.

The charges follow an incident on Sept. 26, 2025, when a school resource officer from Edgewood Middle School in Warsaw first noticed Sanchez-Hernandez after he attempted to pick up a 13-year-old student from school. Sanchez-Hernandez initially told school staff he was a family member of the child’s. Due to not being on the list of authorized people to pick the student up, school staff members contacted the child’s parents, who claimed they did not know Sanchez-Hernandez.

The student claimed they began messaging Sanchez-Hernandez on social media the day before and was told Sanchez-Hernandez was 18. Sanchez-Hernandez told the child to delete all of their messages and photos so they would not get in trouble.

After a search warrant was issued on Sept. 30, officers searched Sanchez-Hernandez’s cell phone. During the search officers also found child sexual assault material of an unknown, underage individual in Sanchez-Hernandez’s image history in his cellphone.

A plea agreement requested for all three charges to be served concurrently, with a sentence of a maximum of six years and maximum of 1-1/2 served in custody with the remainder suspended on probation. A no-contact order with Sanchez-Hernandez and the victim also remains in effect. Sanchez-Hernandez was sentenced to one and a half years for attempted kidnapping; one year for possession of child sexual abuse materials; and one year for obstruction of justice. Due to being served concurrently, Hernandez-Sanchez will serve one and a halfs in total.