"Since 2 a.m., it’s been going nonstop," Perez said late Wednesday afternoon, seated on a couch in his uncle’s house.

By then, he said, he had been interviewed on local and national television 12 times.

The accolades aren’t over. Thursday he will be honored by the Fresno City Council and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for forcing alleged kidnapper Gregorio Gonzalez to release his young captive early Tuesday.

He also will be honored for his bravery Saturday night at Fresno State’s football game against Hawaii. 

"It’s getting to be so overwhelming," said the 29-year-old father of two boys. "I did it with one goal, to get that little girl back to her parents."

People from across the country have written thank-you checks. Fresno dentist Mark Topoozian has offered to replace a missing front tooth that Perez said was pulled by a Mexicali, Mexico, dentist three years ago.

Despite the honor, he said, a trip to the dentist is not among his favorite things.

"It hurt," Perez said. "That’s why I never went back."

Even with the gap in his teeth, Perez said: "I can’t help but smile, I feel good."

Early Wednesday afternoon, Patricia Cardenas, the girl’s mother, met Perez for the first time.

"You brought back my life," she told him in Spanish, following a hug. "My night was so long and it felt like an eternity."

A lot of guys, Perez said, would have done the same thing.

Early Tuesday, Perez said, he had been watching television news at the east-central Fresno home of his cousin Flor Urias, where he lives with her four children. He saw an Amber Alert about a kidnapping that had happened nearby Monday night.

A couple minutes later, a truck matching the police description made a U-turn in front of the house.

Urias called 911. Perez ran out the door without shoes and jumped into his Ford pickup truck. He drove after the other truck.

The tricky, narrow side streets with speed dips wind through an industrial area — an area Perez knows well, but that Gonzalez had trouble navigating.

"When he got to the bumps, he slowed down, and that gave me enough time to catch up," Perez said.

The first time he caught up, he pulled alongside and looked at a smiling Gonzalez, but didn’t see the little girl. Gonzalez shouted out the window that the truck was about to break down.

The second time, he bumped into Gonzalez’s truck, he saw the girl.

"She looked super scared," he said.

Gonzalez bumped the truck a third time.

"I yelled at him and said, ‘That is not your little girl!’ " Perez said. "His eyes popped open, and he knew he wasn’t going to get away."

Gonzalez stopped, gently pushed the girl from the truck and drove away.

Perez stopped to make sure the girl was not seriously hurt. Then he began to worry that somehow neighbors would think he was the suspect.

He called Urias to make sure she would be his eyewitness when police arrived so he wouldn’t be considered the assailant.

He needn’t have worried. Police believed him — and wanted his help finding the culprit.

Perez could only provide one number from the black-and-gold California license plate, but he offered a meticulous description of the Chevrolet pickup truck. Officers tracked it down within an hour about two miles away and arrested Gonzalez.

Back in the neighborhood, resident Luis Magana joined Perez to help the girl.

Magana was alerted by the sound of the suspect’s truck and saw Gonzalez order the girl to get out. After he called 911, he went outside to cover her with a blanket and make sure she was OK. He then saw Gonzalez drive west.

The girl told him she was cold, and that she was happy to be out of the truck.

Magana said the girl told him that the suspect had tried to catch both her and a friend. The other young girl got away. But she fell — and Gonzalez caught her.

"She kept saying, ‘I fell, that’s why he got me,’ " Magana said.

Perez said he was motivated to help because he has received plenty of help in his own life.

Perez was born in Ensenada, Mexico. He came to the United States as a small child and has legal resident status.

He attended Fresno elementary schools and dropped out of high school after two years.

His uncle, Samuel Blanco, taught him to be a construction framer, a trade he would like to pursue.

This summer, Perez moved back to Fresno from San Diego, where his mother lives with his sister.

Perez has been picking grapes in the agricultural region, but he has been looking for other work since becoming unemployed.

He has been separated from his wife for six years and has two boys, ages 9 and 13. He said he tries to send his wife money whenever he can, but without steady work, it hasn’t been easy.

He said he leans on his family for help. Urias offered him a place to stay, and in return, he helps with odd jobs.

It’s those lessons learned from his family that he thinks played a role in the rescue of the young girl.

"When I have fallen all the way down," Perez said, "my family has always been there to help."