SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah, Jan. 30, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly attempting to kidnap a 10-year-old girl last year when she was on her way home from school in Saratoga Springs.
Efrain Antonio Jardon-Mayen faces one count of first-degree felony attempted child kidnapping and one count of second degree felony obstructing justice, according to a probable cause statement from Utah County.
Jardon-Mayen was booked into the Utah County Jail on Tuesday, with his bail set at $50,000.
The probable cause statement said on Feb. 5, 2018, Jardon-Mayen approached the girl, who was on her way home from school.
“He rolled down the window of his truck and asked if she needed a ride, and when she said no, he forcefully said to ‘get in the car!'” the statement said.
“Scared, she ran home, and he followed her, pulling onto her street and making a multiple-point U-turn in front of her house just after she walked through her front door.”
A security camera on a house in the neighborhood captured the girl running onto her street and toward her house, and the defendant’s “very distinctive truck and trailer” pulling onto her street approximately 30 seconds later, the probable cause statement said. The doorbell camera at the young girl’s home also caught the defendant’s truck turning around in front of the house, the statement said.
“Officers identified the defendant’s vehicle at a construction site in the neighborhood a short time later and made contact,” the statement said. “The defendant twice denied driving in that area that day, saying people at his work site could vouch for him. After being confronted with the video footage, though, he admitted to having done so and to driving down the alleged victim’s street looking for a place to turn around.”
