Utah man pleads guilty to kidnapping for taking 5-year-old girl from her bedroom

West Jordan • A man who took a young girl from the bedroom of her Sandy home last year accepted a plea deal Monday that will land him in prison for at least six years.

Troy Mitchell Morley, 48, appeared hesitant Monday as he pleaded guilty to first-degree felony child kidnapping in connection with the Nov. 4 events.

When asked by 3rd District Judge Charlene Barlow if he was pleading guilty because he was, in fact, guilty, Morley took a long pause before replying, "Yes, your honor. I am."

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dismissed three other counts: second-degree felony burglary, class A misdemeanor criminal trespassing in a dwelling and class B misdemeanor interference with an arresting officer.

Child kidnapping is punishable by a mandatory prison term of six, 10 or 15 years to life.

But the judge said that as part of his plea deal, Morley will go to prison for a six-years-to-life term when he is sentenced Oct. 26.

"The plea represents the best situation we could hope for, for Troy, given the facts of the case," defense attorney Roger Kraft said after the hearing. "If he had gone to trial and lost … the consequences would have taken basically the rest of his life away."

Kraft said his client was driving to his Roy home from Nevada on Nov. 3, when he stopped in Sandy and decided to get a hotel room "after some drug use." Morley ended up roaming the streets of Sandy and happened to find an unlocked door at Aaron and Stephanie Edson's home, located near 10600 S. Rembrandt Lane (90 East).

Aaron Edson testified at a January preliminary hearing that he awoke suddenly in the early morning of Nov. 4 and heard the voice of his stepdaughter.

Edson testified at a January preliminary hearing that he didn't feel "extreme alarm" until his wife realized she couldn't hear the girl's distinctive footsteps. The couple then heard a screen door open. Edson said Lainey, who is disabled, cannot open the door.

That's when he began to panic and ran outside.

"When I got to the end of the driveway was when I first saw that she was not alone," Edson testified. "That she was in Morley's arms."

Edson said that when he first encountered the stranger — dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts on a cold morning — his first words were, "Excuse me."

"I was at a loss for words," Edson testified. "I was upset that someone was holding her."

Edson testified that Morley then told him, "I'm in trouble. They're after me. They're going to kill me unless they have her with me."

Edson said he felt a calm come over him, and he told Morley, "I want to help you, but you can't take her with you."

He then grabbed Lainey — who was dressed in pajamas and holding a storybook — from Morley's arms.

"[Morley] said, 'I need to get to a church. If anything happens to me, call the FBI,' " Edson recalled.

After the Edsons called police, officers set up a search perimeter, and bloodhounds led officers to the home of a woman who lived several blocks away — which Morley had entered through a dog door.

Morley ran from the home, but police spotted him in a neighbor's yard, and he was arrested with the help of a police dog, which bit him several times.

After Monday's hearing, Morley's father, Gary Stokes, told the media that his son wasn't guilty of the crime.

"He didn't even know what the hell he was doing," Stokes said. "He was under a drug."

But prosecutor Nathan Evershed said Morley's actions required a response and that the plea deal was a "just" outcome.

"What I believe is, a child kidnapping happened," Evershed said. "Now, exactly what the motive of it [was], we don't know."

The Edsons said Monday that their daughter is doing "as well as could be expected" after the frightening ordeal.

"We're still very emotional," Aaron Edson said. "We are relieved that there is an end in sight. We're very happy with the way the state has handled the prosecution, and we are comfortable with this outcome."

jmiller@sltrib.com