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SALT LAKE CITY — A man charged with kidnapping a 5-year-old girl from her Sandy home had been drugged as part of some kind of prank, his father said Monday.
"He's caused some problems for himself, too, but he did not cause this problem — period. He did not. It was through a prank. Someone thought it was a joke. And it fired up in his face, because they slipped something in his drink," Gary Stokes said following a court appearance by his son, Troy Morley.
Morley, 46, of Roy, is accused of going into Aaron and Stephanie Edson's Sandy home early on the morning of Nov. 7 and taking their daughter, Lainey, who was asleep in her basement room.
When Aaron Edson heard a commotion in his house, he went outside to find Morley walking away with Lainey. He asked for her back and Morley handed her over in a nonviolent confrontation. He was arrested a short time later by police after allegedly entering another nearby home.
Morley is charged in 3rd District Court with child kidnapping, a first-degree felony; burglary, a second-degree felony; criminal trespass, a class A misdemeanor; and interfering with an officer, a class B misdemeanor.
Investigators believe the kidnapping victim was picked at random and Morley has no connection to the family. Hours before allegedly taking the child, police say Morley walked into a hotel off 10600 South near Automall Drive and asked the desk clerk to call police because he was in "imminent danger." He left the hotel by the time police arrived but left the clerk with his real name.
After arresting Morley, police say he made odd comments about drug cartels, the FBI and voices coming from a radio.
He wasn't using his head that day. He just wanted help because he was scared. He didn't know what was going on, where he was at. He rang all the doorbells all up and down that street. He wasn't trying to be quiet or nothing. I think it was a prank. Someone tried to make a joke out of this and it backfired on my boy.
–Gary Stokes, Troy Morley's father
Last month, Morley was ordered to stand trial on the charges. His attorney has questioned his client's mental state during previous court hearings.
Stokes previously apologized on his son's behalf to the girl's parents. The Edsons accepted the apology and offered their condolences to Stokes for what he must be dealing with. However, Stephanie Edson told him that because his son tried to take her daughter, he must face the consequences for his actions.
Following a brief court appearance Monday, Stokes again apologized but said his son was not totally to blame.
"He wasn't using his head that day. He just wanted help because he was scared. He didn't know what was going on, where he was at. He rang all the doorbells all up and down that street. He wasn't trying to be quiet or nothing," he said. "I think it was a prank. Someone tried to make a joke out of this and it backfired on my boy."
Stokes does not believe his son has mental health issues or a drug problem, but instead "needs to stay away from certain people."
"You'd need help, too, if someone gave you a bunch of drugs," he said.
Stokes called his son very intelligent and said he stopped at a Sandy hotel after driving back to Roy from Nevada because he was too tired to drive. It was there that he believes someone slipped something into his drink that caused him to become paranoid.
The reason he grabbed the little girl, he claimed, was because Morley "was afraid of being shot. Everyone's getting killed by the cops anymore and that's why he was trying to protect himself. That's what he told me was he couldn't handle it anymore, the way people are."
Stokes said his son blacked out and keeps remembering bits and pieces of that night but can't remember much. He said he entered the Edsons' house because the door was open and he planned on dropping Lainey off at a nearby church.
Morley's next court hearing is scheduled for March 2.
Contributing: Sandra Yi
