ROY, Utah, Aug. 28, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A Roy man has been booked on a first-degree felony kidnapping charge after police say he admitted grabbing a 10-year-old girl, and saying he planned to take her behind a vacant house and have sex with her.
The girl escaped the man’s grasp.
Roy police officers were called to the scene, a Texaco station convenience store at 4395 S. 1900 West, at 8:51 p.m. Friday night.
“The 10-year-old female victim reported that she went to the gas station to get a treat,” says a probable cause statement for suspect Richard Rodney Palmer, 44.
“While she was in the store, a male that was also inside the store made her not feel good. She paid for her treats and exited the gas station and got on her bicycle. She then saw the male outside again, pacing and it made her feel even worse.”
The suspect, now identified as Palmer, walked west on 4400 South, the direction the girl had been headed.
“When the victim went to pass him, at approximately 1950 W. 4400 South, he grabbed her around the neck. She screamed and yelled and held the bicycle and the male eventually let her go, she dropped her purse in the driveway of the house this occurred near. She rode home and told her mother.”
Responding officers found the girl’s purse where she had reported dropping it. In an interview, the child described her attacker as a dark haired Hispanic man wearing a black shirt and black pants.
Roy officers went to the Texaco station to view surveillance footage, which showed a man fitting the description as he exited the rear passenger door of a maroon Honda Accord, and enter the convenience store with two other men from the car. Surveillance video showed the suspect at the checkout, with the girl in line behind him, the statement says.
“As the victim leaves the store, the male walks in front of her, I could see her stop her bicycle and put both feet down from her bicycle when she sees the male start walking in front of her,” the officer’s statement says. “She said she was trying to let him get further in front of him. The victim is last seen bicycling westbound on the sidewalk a short distance behind the male before they exited the camera view.
“About one minute later, the male runs back to the (maroon Honda) car that was parked at gas pump No. 3 and gets back in the rear passenger seat. The driver of the vehicle finishes pumping fuel and leaves.
The store’s owner was initially unable to access credit card information from the transaction.
“While I was watching the surveillance cameras, the owner of the gas station’s wife calls and said the male that was driving the car had entered and left the store while I was watching the surveillance footage,” the probable cause statement says.
“The officer then viewed the new footage, “and confirmed the driver of the maroon Honda had entered the gas station with two females while I was inside.”
In the new footage, the car’s license plate was visible, the statement says. Officers responded to the Roy address associated with the car. They recognized the address from another sexual assault case, the statement says.
Palmer and the two other men believed previously captured on surveillance exited the house and were detained, the statement says.
“Detectives read Richard Palmer his Miranda rights, he stated he understood and agreed to talk with them,” the probable cause statement says.
“Richard says he observed a young female that he believed to be 10 to 11,” it says. “When he left the store, he saw the girl leave. He said that he grabbed the girl and planned to take her behind a nearby vacant house and have sex with her.”
Palmer was booked into the Weber County Jail without bail. Gephardt Daily will have more information on this case as the story develops.
