SANTA CLARA – Three teenage boys were taken into police custody Monday night for kidnapping a 14-year-old girl.
As the incident involved minors, Santa Clara Public Safety Deputy Chief Ken Campbell said he could not go into details about the case, but confirmed that a teenage girl had been taken by three other teenagers and kept in the back of a pickup.
The girl was out jogging when the three masked teenagers abducted her and kept her in the back of a pickup. She was able to escape and return home.
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And the parents of the “three teenage boys” claim it was a prank. REALLY??? A prank???? Sorry excuse for their failure to properly raise their boys. Next time these “boys” will simply take a 5-6 year old, as a 5-6 year old won’t be able to out run them. They should be expelled from Snow Canyon High and the courts should prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Shame on you parents in your attempt to excuse your “boys” behavior as a mere “prank”, really says alot about you as parents.
I agree with firefly. Even my boys who are not teens yet know that behavior is criminal. The parents of those boys need a wakeup call.
I know the boys and their side of the story. No one is listening to them. The girl was willing to get in the truck and knew the boys from school. She was joking around with them and even put the mask on. The whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. You can’t kidnap someone who is willing to get in the vehicle. She was probably late getting home and afraid of getting in trouble so she elaborated what happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was scared of what her father would do.
It’s one of those things where you have to wonder what they were thinking or talking about beforehand… “Hey, you know what would be a good idea? Let’s put masks on and drive around until we find someone we can pretend to kidnap.”
I really wish everyone would listen to the boys. I am best friends with them all. Yes it was a prank. As far as I know, she was in the truck for under 2 minutes. They let her out of the truck. The media is blowing this story up way to big. And making it sound like they had the intentions of harming her. Heck when student council is elected they “kidnap” the members and take them to Denny’s. Look on both sides before you assume.
Regardless of whether it was a “joke” or not, these kids should not have been pretending to kidnap someone. That is an extremely serious crime and now they have potentially ruined their futures, even if they don’t go to jail. Absolute stupidity…
All kids do stupid shit which ranges in stupidity. Just because it was stupid doesnt mean their futures are ruined. This is not that serious as the media is saying. The girl hung out with the boys before. She knew who they were and was even joking around with the mask on. I wouldn’t be surprised if the reason she ran so hard is because she was gonna be late and didn’t want to face the consequences. Not because she was scared of the boys from school. Anyways they are innocent until proven guilty!
If she was in on the prank and knew that it was a joke, why were the police called?
hahah!!
If it were a joke, why didn’t they stay and take her home? Why did the cops have to investigate and find the truck and go to their house to find the masks and the boys there? If it were a prank or joke, than they would’ve let her see their faces and take her home and APOLOGIZE to her. Not drop her off in a neighborhood that she was unfamiliar with and try to find her way home. THAT’S NOT A JOKE!!! That’s trying NOT to get caught!!!! TEENAGE STUPIDITY!!! Think before you ACT Teenagers!!! It could affect the rest of your life even if you thought it was joke!!!
This sounds as serious as the incident last week when I kidnapped my mom, drove her to the grocery store, released her to go shopping, then dropped her off back at her house. The only difference was that I let her ride in the front seat.
Prank my a$$!!!!!!!
To the people saying this was a prank.. You are disgusting! I can’t believe you are trying to defend these punks! If that happened to my daughter the cops better get to them first because I don’t find this funny at all! Your saying she new them and went along with it when every story I have read about this says she was scared for her life! Of course there gonna tell there friends and parents it was a joke probably because they didn’t want to get in trouble! I highly doubt the girl made all this up because she was gonna be late home! You people make me sick. I seriously hope this girl is not traumatized for the rest of her life because of this “prank”
Every story is false. They are trying to make it seem like this. They are friends. They had her for 22 seconds. They helped her out of the truck. She knew it was them when they helped her out. They didn’t let her out in some where that she didn’t know. 2 blocks. I can’t believe everyone is only being one sided. Hear both sides of the story before makin acusations.
If the boys held the girl against her will then the boys committed a crime, whether they realized it at the time or considered it a prank or not. There are messed up people out there who think rape or hate crimes like attacking gay people (or holding a schoolmate agains their will in the back of a pickup truck) is a fun prank. Being a prank doesn’t make it ok. I really hope the parents of the boys will hold their kids accountable.
The boys are claiming that the girl came willingly… but how is that a prank? That would be kids playing together, so there’s something fishy with that story. A prank requires fooling someone or scaring someone. I have to say as a female that would be pretty horrifying to be outnumbered three to one by masked boys and locked in a vehicle….so if that was the case, consider the prank a success (as well as a crime committed).
Also, whether the girl knew the boys before the incident is irrelevant. 70% of rapes are committed by people the victim knew previously. That doesn’t make the rape ok, and doesn’t make a rape victim’s claim less valid. Neither does it make this girls claim of being held against her will less valid.
It seems like this might boil down to her word against theirs though, and there may be no way to prove that the boys held her against her will. Most likely the boys and the boy’s parents know that.
I truly hope that the boys didn’t mean any harm by their prank. And I hope that if they did hold the girl against her will that they admit it and apologize instead of making the situation worse by lying about it.
Ha ha… I bet those kids aren’t laughing now.
if this would happened to my daughter, i would be in prison right now. Yes, you are really stupid if you think it’s only a prank. A prank, what a joke. I f you think it’s a prank, then you must be really dump, brain dead school drop out. prosecute this stupid kids and send them to Jail.
Ok, I don’t think a 22 second prank would land on about all media outlets in the state, maybe even region!! Get real people OMG!!
So the armed criminal who holds up a 7-11 can claim it was a “prank”? Or the guy who hits your car and takes off was just playing a “prank”? Or the guy who steals you tv and laptop was just playing a “prank”? It’s pretty sad that people would minimalize the emotional well-being of a child while getting thoroughly offended about a crime that involves money in some sort of way. A prank is a joke that is inconvenient and/or annoying but funny later, not something terrifying that changes your entire perspective of the world and your ability to keep yourself safe. Some examples of a prank might be putting saran wrap across the toilet bowl or filling a sugar bowl with salt. Hiding your identity and holding someone against their will is traumatizing. Let go of the fact that you may know the boys and have always judged them to be harmless and think about WHAT THEY DID. It is never okay for a man or men to use their size to bully women or children in any sort of way, even if he thinks it’s funny.
This is hilarious. He said, she said.
It’s all fun and games until something “crazy” happens in St George and nobody knows how to react.
It is very frustrating to see so many people make such harsh comments about this girl and the 3 boys when they know nothing about what really happened. Most of you out there base your comments on misguided information and an embellished story the media has tried to create for viewer interest. I must have read 100 comments over the last week stating how this young girl is traumatized and will never be the same. None of us know how this is affecting her. She might be traumatized from her parents putting her on TV and being forced to make up a story. If I had to guess, she might be losing sleep at night feeling guilty now that she is realizing that she has gotten 3 of her previous friends in serious trouble over a two minute incident that she knew was a prank and knew who the pranksters were before she even went to bed that night. I’m sick of people questioning what would’ve happened if she didn’t escape. The FACT is that she didn’t escape, the boys stopped and let her out at the end of the prank after driving for less than two minutes. It was dumb of the boys not to reveal themselves when they let her out. If they would’ve then the girls parents couldn’t talked to the boys parents rather than the cops. However, everyone knew everyone before going to bed that night. I’m sure the girls parents have now learned how good these boys really are. That is why they are easing up on the suggested severity of the punishment. For those of you who aren’t in the St. George or Santa Clara community, your comments hold no weight. You don’t know what really happened; you only heard what KSL reported. Get your facts before you are so quick to judge. People here in the community who know all 4 kids involved know this was an innocent prank with no malicious intent for which the boys will be justly punished for their stupidity. Shame on the rest of you for thinking the media was giving you the FACTS.
It is sad when we reach a point in society where everyone gets a cold star and never hears the word no. So many of the comments state these are “good boys”, what and insult to those who truly are and sad the parents and community standards are so low. The image of a good boy in my mind is not out looking to “prank” or cause mischief with friends.Good boys would be at a job, helping a neighbor, mowing the lawn ect. Nothing weather it was 2 seconds 2 minutes or 2 hours was good about what these boys did. Nor their parents and friends reactions. Whats wrong with our Society, you don’t have to look far, how many times do you see: I was wrong, I take responsibility, will not happen again, forgive me, what can I do to make it right. Why has the definition of good fallen so far?
To Facts: I know the BIL of the girl who was kidnapped. It doesn’t take malicious intent to cause severe and lasting trauma to another person. All it takes is lack of empathy and the ability to carry out a stupid “prank” with your friends. The *facts* I do know are that the girl sustained physical injuries from the event, and was emotionally traumatized. Another fact I do know is that a church leader in this girl’s community accused her of “tearing the community apart” simply because she and her family decided to press charges against the boys who have now pleaded guilty. And that is not the only incident of people in the community trying to shame the girl and her family into silence. I’m sure that made the girl feel her divine worth. Thank heaven the boys have at least taken responsibility.