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CEDAR CITY — An Ohio man was arrested in Cedar City on Wednesday and accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old from California.
Just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Cedar City dispatchers received a call from a parent in San Diego who said their daughter was kidnapped and taken from their home about 2 a.m., a police booking affidavit said. The caller told police their daughter had met a man online, but she didn't really know him.
The daughter was communicating with her parents and told them her location was by the Love's Travel Stop in Cedar City, and she was in a black Honda Civic, the police booking affidavit said. The daughter told her parents the man who took her had a knife, had hit her and was forcing her to smoke marijuana, which was making her disoriented.
A Utah Highway Patrol trooper responded to the area, located the car parked on a street by the Love's and approached the vehicle. Police said the man exited the vehicle and was taken into custody without incident.
The man was identified as Ryan Patch, 27, of Ohio. Officers located marijuana vape cartridges and a knife during a search of his vehicle, according to the affidavit.
In an interview with police, Patch told them that while traveling through Nevada, the girl told him she was only 15 years old, the police booking affidavit said. Instead of contacting authorities or returning her home after learning this, he continued to drive farther away from her house, according to the affidavit.
Patch was arrested for investigation of aggravated kidnapping, endangerment of a child, possession of controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia.
