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SALT LAKE CITY — A West Valley man was charged Monday with offering a ride to an 18-year-old woman and then sexually assaulting her and not letting her out of his car.
Arnold Gonzales, 69, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping and object rape, first-degree felonies; two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; and obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor.
On Thursday, an 18-year-old girl said she had been taking a bus to an undisclosed location and got lost. Gonzales saw the woman — someone he had never met — walking in the Glendale area and offered to give her a ride, according to charging documents.
But while driving around, Gonzales inappropriately touched the woman, forced her to watch pornography and made her smoke marijuana, the charges state.
"(The woman) tried to exit the vehicle, but Gonzales prevented her from opening the door. (She) texted her boyfriend and told him she had been kidnapped. (She) shared her location with her boyfriend, and he reached out to (the woman's) family, who contacted the police," according to the charges.
Police say the woman was in the car for about an hour before officers were contacted, spotted the vehicle and pulled it over.
When questioned, Gonzales admitted the woman tried to exit his car several times, but he kept giving her excuses about why she couldn't get out, the charges allege.
At the Salt Lake City Police Department, while in an interview room, detectives informed Gonzales they would be seeking a search warrant to swab for his DNA. At that point, "Gonzales asked to wash his hands. When he was denied, Gonzales dipped his fingers in his water, rubbed his hands on his pants, smelled his fingers, and tried to bite his fingernails," according to the court documents.
Gonzales was arrested at the conclusion of the interview. Prosecutors say he "preyed upon the victim's vulnerability and took advantage of her."
