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OREM — A 16-year-old Iowa runaway is on her way back home after Orem police arrested the man accused of picking her up and driving her to Utah.
The pair met online when the girl was just 14, according to Orem police Lt. Craig Martinez. Police say 28-year-old Benjamin Braithwaite of Orem drove several times to Iowa where she lived so the two could meet up for encounters.
"It wasn't until last month that he then made arrangements with our victim to drive out to Iowa, pick her up and bring her back here to Utah," Martinez said. "She was willingly a participant in leaving town with him. She had her belongings packed up and snuck out of a bedroom window."
The two had been living in Orem since then, Martinez said. The girl's guardian had filed a report with police in Iowa and she was listed as missing or runaway.
On Halloween night, an Orem officer was patrolling a park and noticed the girl well after curfew. When he approached her, she gave him a fake name. As the officer pushed a little harder, she finally told him who she was.
"It just kind of snowballed into a search warrant being issued for our suspect's home, computers and other evidence being seized," said Martinez. "It's probably going to take several weeks to finish up."
Police said as they interviewed the girl, they learned Braithwaite kept her isolated from people back home in Iowa.
"From what we understand he took away her cellphone and gave her another cellphone without the numbers and contacts in it," Martinez said. "It made it difficult for her if she wanted to return home, to return home."
As for Braithwaite, Martinez said he refused to talk to investigators. He was booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, forcible sex abuse, lewdness and unlawfully providing shelter to a runaway.
The girl was sent back to Iowa. Braithwaite is being held on $30,000 bail.
Martinez said this is another reminder to emphasize Internet safety in your home.
"You've got to be aware of what your kids are looking at and who they're talking to," he said.
