Park City man charged with kidnapping 12-year-old girl after going on a date

Utah's Third District Court. Photo: Utah Courts.

PARK CITY, Utah – An 18-year-old man from Park City has been charged with child kidnapping, a first-degree felony; and drug possession, a class B misdemeanor.

The man has been accused of picking up the 12-year-old girl from her home without permission from a legal guardian to go on a date.

The charging documents filed in the 3rd District Court say the man was spotted by a Summit County sheriff’s deputy near a stopped vehicle at an I-80 off-ramp around 12:15 a.m. on Saturday.

As the deputy approached the vehicle he noticed the driver was sitting on the ground next to the vehicle’s rear tire and appeared to be upset. The deputy then observed a young-looking female in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The man stated that the female was his girlfriend, whom he had known for about a month and had been dating for about a week.

The man told police that he was staying at his friend’s parents’ home and had been in a fight with them because he wanted the girl to spend the night at their home but they would not allow it. The man told police he had picked up the girl at her home and they had gone bowling in Salt Lake City.

A guardian for the girl told police that she believed the girl was spending the night with a friend in Heber and that the man did not have her permission to pick her up.