Utah man charged with 2016 rape is arrested in Mexico

A Utah man charged with kidnapping and rape has been arrested in Mexico.

The 27-year-old man, formerly of Kearns, is being held in California awaiting extradition to Utah.

In October 2019, he was charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping and four counts of aggravated rape, all first-degree felonies. According to the charges, a woman told police that, on Sept. 17, 2016, she was walking down a street when two men got out of their car, grabbed her and forced her into the vehicle. They then took her to an abandoned house, she said, where one of the men raped her.

In 2018, the Kearns man was arrested in a separate case and provided a DNA sample. The DNA was matched to the 2016 rape, according to the charges, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

After an 18-month search, the U.S. Marshal Service’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team located him in Guadalajara, Mexico. He was arrested without incident on April 27 and returned to the United States.

“After nearly 4½ years, due to the tireless efforts of Deputy US Marshals, a victim can now feel some comfort that justice will finally be served,” said Matthew D. Harris, the U.S. Marshal for the District of Utah, in a statement.