A Napa County registered sex offender with ties to American Canyon was arrested in San Diego County after trying to abduct a 13-year-old girl by knife point as she walked home from school, police said.

Leonard Earl Scroggins, 32, registered as a transient sex offender in Napa County, was arrested at 10:15 p.m. Wednesday in a San Diego County park, said National City Police Sgt. Mike Harlan said.

The arrest came after National City police chased him in a high-speed pursuit, said Harlan. He crashed a minivan into a fence around a skateboard park, and tried to run from pursuing officers, he said.

Scroggins had removed his GPS tracking device Tuesday afternoon or evening before fleeing Napa County in a 2004 Nissan Quest minivan

registered to a family member living in American Canyon, Harlan said.

"Not all sex offenders have a tracking device and those that do are considered high risk," Harlan said.

Napa County Sheriff's Captain Tracey Stuart said Scroggins was a registered sex offender for a forcible rape crime.

On Monday, Napa authorities received a report that several days earlier Scroggins had groped a 14-year-old family member while visiting his mother in American Canyon, Stuart said.

As Napa Sheriff's deputies tried to locate him, police lost track of him through his GPS device and authorities issued a warrant for his arrest, she said.

National City police determined Scroggins' location when he attempted to rob a woman of her purse Wednesday

afternoon, Harlan said.

After yanking the purse out of the woman's hands, he fled in the minivan, he said. She memorized the license plate number and contacted police, he said.

Less than two hours later, he approached a 13-year-old girl, grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her neck, Harlan said, adding she was walking home from school and was wearing her National City Middle School uniform.

After threatening her by saying "Get in the car or I'll cut you," the girl fought him off, grabbing his arm and elbowing him in the stomach, Harlan said.

Though she got cut from his knife, she got away relatively unharmed, ran to a family member's home and contacted police, Harlan said.

"She was very brave and she did the right thing," Harlan said of the 13-year-old girl. "Other than the cut on her finger, she was not hurt."

A patrol officer spotted the minivan in the 1700 block of Highland Avenue in National City about 10 p.m., tried to pull Scroggins over and chased him about a mile, Harlan said.

Once they got to Kimball Park in National City, Scroggins jumped out the minivan, which was still moving, and tried to run away while the vehicle crashed into a fence, he said.

Scroggins was taken into custody on suspicion of attempted kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and parole violations out of Napa County.

He is in San Diego County Jail and will be arraigned Monday afternoon in the Southbay Court House in Chula Vista, Harlan said.

Contact staff writer Sarah Rohrs at srohrs@timesheraldonline.com or srohrs@timesheraldonline.com.