Authorities in Las Vegas found a 15-year-old girl missing from California, and arrested the man accompanying her--a 30-year-old police officer fromKiowa, Oklahoma.
Reports say the girl was visiting relatives in Turlock, California, when she was reported missing. Because of the age of the girl and the man with whomshe was believed to be, police in Turlock treated the case as a child abduction, even though the girl was presumed to have left voluntarily withthe man, identified as Danniel Boone Morgan. Morgan was Facebook friends with the California teen.
Danniel Morgan is identified as a Kiowa police officer who was hired in April 2015, and who is on administrative leave. Reports say he was fired from thedepartment within three hours of his arrest.
After the girl allegedly left with Morgan, police said the two were believed to be traveling in a 2013 Ford Mustang with either Oklahoma or Louisiana plates.The thought the pair may be traveling to southern California, Mexico, or Oklahoma.
Some 22 hours after police began searching for the teen, she was found with Morgan in Las Vegas. They say that the girl had been living with her motherin Oklahoma, but was visiting her father in Bakersfield, California. While there, she requested to visit her grandparents in Turlock. Morgan then allegedlydrove from Oklahoma to get her.
Morgan was arrested on a fugitive warrant at 8:00 Thursday morning at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas. He is charged in Nevada with kidnappingand statutory rape in connection with the incident. Officials in California and Oklahoma are also investigating to determine what, if any, chargeshe faces in those states. Because of interstate transportation of the minor, he could also face federal charges.
In Nevada, statutory sexual seduction of a person under 16 by a person over 21 is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Kidnappingcarries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
In Oklahoma, statutory rape includes sex between a person under the age of 16 and a person over the age of 18. Its punishment includes a sentence of oneto 15 years in prison and lifetime sex offender registration.
The girl allegedly told her father that she had been dating Morgan since she was 14 years old.
