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WEST VALLEY CITY — The Granite School District credited the fast action of two Granger High School girls who say a man tried to lure them and started filming them as they tried to get away.
The school district also described how police found some troubling items on the man that led to his arrest.
Two girls said they were sitting across from Granger High on Monday afternoon when two men approached them and began to talk to them. One man left, said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley, but the other wouldn't walk away.
"He's a young-looking individual and maybe even the girls themselves, when they first started talking with him, thought that he was one of their fellow students at the school," he said.
Horsley continued to explain that the man pretended to know the students and tried to get them to leave with him.
"He tried to coerce them by indicating they were already conversing via Instagram on social media and that one of the girl's fathers had contacted him to take her home," he said.
The girls, feeling uncomfortable, left and crossed the street back toward the high school. Horsley said the man began to follow them and according to police, he started to film them.
Heading straight for the office, the students told the Granger High principal, and Horsley explained the principal alerted Granite police. Officers found the man on campus.
"To follow them on the school property just demonstrated that this person was doing inappropriate things," Horsley said.
He explained that Jonathan Martinez Calata, 21, was arrested for investigation of trespassing.
Court documents state that officers found a police badge on Calata, brass knuckles, stolen credit cards, and illegal drugs. Horsley said brass knuckles are classified as a weapon and banned on campus.
It's possible Calata could face an attempted child kidnapping charge and impersonating an officer, according to police. Horsley clarified that Calata was not pretending to be an officer in this instance.
Horsley said police are looking for that second person who originally walked up to the girls, hoping to talk to him about what was going on.
These girls did the right thing by coming back to a safe place where they could get the help of adults.
–Ben Horsley, Granite School District
He urged parents to talk to their kids, and if someone makes them uncomfortable in any way on or off school property, to tell a trusted adult like a counselor, principal, or police officer.
He also suggested that when students leave school, they stay with a buddy or a group just like those girls did.
Horsley explained that thankfully these girls were OK, thanks to seeking safety at the school.
"Clearly he was over the line and aggressive," Horsley said. "And these girls did the right thing by coming back to a safe place where they could get the help of adults."
