Accused kidnapper sent to prison in immigration case

By melinda Rogers

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Jul 29 2011 02:00PM
Updated Jul 29, 2011 11:21PM

A Mexican national who was deported in August then returned to the United States two months later and allegedly abducted a woman and child in Clearfield has been ordered to serve federal prison time for illegally re-entering the country.

Javier Antonio-Lopez, 24, will also likely be deported from the U.S. again once his federal prison term is completed and a state kidnapping case against him is adjudicated.

Last October, Antonio-Lopez allegedly forced a 25-year-old woman, who recently had ended a relationship with him, and the woman’s 4-year-old daughter into his car at Oak Hills Elementary School in Kearns.

The woman told police that Antonio-Lopez drove for four hours after the alleged abduction, traveling first to the Park City area and then back into Salt Lake and Weber counties, all while repeatedly refusing to let the mother and child go. He refused to stop the vehicle for fear the two would escape, police said.

Antonio-Lopez eventually stopped at a gas station in Clearfield, where a police officer spotted the vehicle and became suspicious when no one exited the car. Antonio-Lopez drove to another gas station, and the officer followed. The officer observed the woman trying to escape from the vehicle, with Antonio-Lopez driving away while her leg dangled outside the car door.

The officer pulled the car over, and Antonio-Lopez ran into a nearby field to escape. He evaded police by running through several muddy fields. Police recovered the man’s shoes and asked for the public’s help in apprehending him. Antonio-Lopez was later captured by police, who received tips on his whereabouts.

Antonio-Lopez, also known as David Reyes, was also charged in Farmington’s 2nd District Court with one count of first-degree felony child kidnapping, second-degree felony kidnapping and class A misdemeanor failure to stop at the command of a law enforcement officer. That case is pending. He faces 15 years to life in state prison if convicted of the first-degree felony and an additional one to 15 years in state prison if convicted of the second-degree felony.

U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell sentenced Antonio-Lopez to 12 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one count of felony re-entry of a previously removed alien. Campbell also sentenced him to eight months in prison in a second case filed against him for violating the terms of his August 2010 deportation by returning to the U.S.

That prison term will be served concurrently to the 12-month term.

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