SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 31, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A 20-year-old Texas man has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape in connection with the March 21 abduction of a 14-year-old Magna girl that prompted an Amber Alert.
Frank David Lopez-Orellana, of Houston, Texas, told police he met the girl online and later drove her to San Antonio, Texas, “without the consent of her parents so that they could have a physical relationship,” according to charges filed Thursday in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court.
The girl’s mother contacted police that evening after learning from the teen’s friends that she left with a 20-year-old man who intended to take her to Texas, charging documents state.
An Amber Alert was issued the morning of March 22, and the girl was found safe later that day in Texas, police said.
Lopez-Orellana was taken into custody and booked into jail in San Antonio, where he is being held without bail and awaiting extradition to Utah. The aggravated kidnapping and rape charges both are first-degree felonies.
Lopez-Orellana originally is from Honduras and is in the United States illegally, charges state. Prosecutors say he poses a flight risk and “could flee back to Honduras or Mexico,” according to charging documents.
