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SALT LAKE CITY — A St. George couple was arrested over the weekend and accused of kidnapping a man, making him strip, and holding him captive for five hours because they believed he owed them money.
Michael Dean Rottmund, 25, and Georgia Brook Jones, 26, were each charged Monday in 5th District Court with aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies, plus several other charges.
The investigation began Saturday morning when a man called St. George police to report he was held captive the night before.
The man said he went to Jones' and Rottmund's home where Jones "confronted him about several thousand dollars she believed he stole from her house," according to a police affidavit filed in court. When Rottmund returned home, he also confronted the man about missing money. The couple then assaulted the victim, the affidavit states.
The victim was forced a knifepoint to "strip naked" while the couple went through his clothing and took items from him, according to police.
The couple "refused to let him leave" and Rottmund told the man "he would stab him if he tried to run," the affidavit says. The victim then contacted a relative who transferred $900 into Jones' PayPal account.
"After the money transferred, Georgia and Michael kept (the man's) belongings and eventually allowed him to leave the home after they had detained him there for about five hours," police wrote in the affidavit.
Officers served a search warrant on the home and found more than $3,100 in stolen money and property, according to the affidavit. In addition, investigators reported finding documents with the names, birthdates and addresses of multiple people. The documents were from an internet company that Jones works for and were supposed to be shredded, police say.
Drugs and drug paraphernalia was also recovered during the search, according to the affidavit.
In addition to aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, Jones and Rottmund were also charged Monday with theft, a third-degree felony; three counts of drug possession, a class A misdemeanor; plus possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of marijuana possession, class B misdemeanors. Jones received additional charges of theft and possession of another person's identification documents, both third-degree felonies.
