SOUTH OGDEN, Utah — The South Ogden Police Department is investigating two separate attempted kidnappings in a town with a little over 17,00 residents.
In one incident, the police released a video showing the car of a man they believe is their suspect in an attempted kidnapping.
It happened Friday, April 23, 2021. A mother called authorities after she heard a child scream while playing in her front yard. She said she witnessed a man in a gray sedan speaking to her five-year-old daughter, according to a statement from South Ogden police.
The parent told police the male sped off when they spotted her. She also reported to the police that the man asked her daughter to get into the car with him.
Police describe the suspect as a white adult male in his mid-20s, with short light brown hair, and he was wearing thick black-rimmed glasses at the time of the incident.
They released video in response to a public records request from KSL. On the footage, recorded by a doorbell camera, a small gray car, possibly a hatchback, approaches a group of children walking on the sidewalk. The video does not offer a good look at the driver, nor do you see the attempted kidnapping.
South Ogden police are asking anyone with information on the attempted kidnapping to come forward.
In a separate attempted kidnapping, a father called South Ogden Police after his ten-year-old son told him a man approached the boy at Burch Creek Park and tried to take him home on April 20, 2021.
According to police, the boy told the man his parents were home and he didn’t need a ride to his residence. Police stated the suspect, identified as Ethan Swisher, insisted on taking the boy home. The child then ran home and told his father about the incident.
A school crossing guard also witnessed the interaction at a distance.
Swisher was later located at the park by police and booked into jail. The case has been turned over to the Weber County Attorney’s Office.