Police in Thornton found a girl lying beside a truck, her hands and legs tied up and her mouth taped closed, and officers arrested a 44-year-old man suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the girl.
The girl was found about 4 a.m. June 21 in the 9400 block of Lillian Lane, according to an arrest affidavit. The girl led police to a nearby home, from which she “escaped” through a screen door while she was bound.
Phillip Torres was arrested on investigation of multiple felonies, including second-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping of a minor, false imprisonment and two counts of sexual assault on a child, according to the affidavit.
The kidnapping unfolded June 20 when the girl, who is from out of state and was staying at a local hotel with her aunt, argued with her aunt and left the hotel. As she was walking around a man, later identified as Torres, in a white pickup truck pulled up. The girl got into the truck, expecting a ride back to the hotel, but was instead taken to a residence on Lillian, according to the affidavit.
At the residence, the girl was fed a meal and given a bottle of beer to drink. The girl told investigators afterward that Torres told the girl he was going to “show me a lesson.”
Torres allegedly tied and bound the girl, and sexually assaulted her, the affidavit said.
While bound, the girl was able to make her way to a screen door, while the suspect was apparently sleeping, and she got out of the home. She went to a nearby residence and knocked on the door using her head, but the resident there was spooked by the incident and called police. Meanwhile, the girl made her way to a nearby parked truck and lay down there to hide.
An officer who responded to the resident’s call about a “prowler” heard the girl moaning and found her. The girl led officers to Torres’s nearby residence.
Torres told investigators he had spotted the girl, he believed she was 19, and that she appeared to be homeless, according to the affidavit. He took her home, fed her, and inquired about buying a Greyhound bus ticket for her to return home. He decided not to purchase the bus ticket and the girl left his residence on her own accord, he told police.
A court hearing for Torres is scheduled on July 6.
