Prosecutors on Friday charged a West Valley City man with multiple felonies in connection with the kidnapping and rape of a 15-year-old girl.
Court documents show Creed Cole Lujan, 43, is facing single first-degree felony counts of aggravated kidnapping, rape, forcible sodomy and aggravated robbery, in addition to three second-degree counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and three counts of obstructing justice, also second-degree felonies.
The documents, filed in 3rd District Court, state that when police confronted Lujan on Monday about the kidnapping and rape, he was allegedly in the process of deleting photos and videos of the assault from his phone.
West Valley City police began investigating that same day, after the girl’s mother called police to say the 15-year-old hadn’t yet returned home from school, and that when the girl’s family tracked her cellphone, they found it on the street.
Police later found the girl running and crying in the area.
She told police that she was on her way home from Hunter High School when a man in a car — who police say is Lujan — pulled over and threatened her with a knife if she didn’t get in. She complied, noting the man was wearing khaki shorts and a medical boot, according to charging documents.
He allegedly took the girl’s phone, doused it in some “chemicals” and apparently left it in the road.
Lujan is then accused of taking the girl to a house he shares with his brother, where he allegedly forced the girl to take pills to “relax" and then raped her. The girl said he took photos and videos of the alleged assault.
Charging documents allege Lujan made the girl clean herself after the rape with Clorox wipes. He then changed clothes, got the girl back in the car and dropped her off near the high school. That’s when she ran away crying.
Police linked Lujan to the crime through doorbell video of his father’s car. The father’s house fits the description the girl gave of the home, and when they went into the home they found Lujan in the basement, “actively deleting photos from his phone that appeared to be a nude female.”
Police said he was wearing clothing matching the description the girl gave and they saw a medical boot in his bedroom.
Investigators recovered the photos from Lujan’s phone and identified the female victim in them. A medical exam also found the girl had barbiturates in her system.
Lujan was taken into custody Monday, but was released, according to jail records.
A warrant was issued Friday for Lujan’s arrest, and prosecutors have asked that he not be allowed bail once in custody. They argue he was on parole for a 2008 attempted murder and poses a threat to the community.
In that earlier case, too, officers said there was an element of kidnapping, although that charge was ultimately dismissed the same day he pleaded guilty to attempted murder.