Deputy stops kidnap suspect
News editor
Marion County sheriff’s deputies stopped a suspected kidnapping in progress last week.
About 1:50 p.m., July 9, police dispatchers in Sedgwick County received a report that a woman was being abducted by an ex-boyfriend in a semi-truck and was traveling through Marion County on U.S. 50.
According to police radio transmissions, the woman said the ex-boyfriend had threatened to kill her.
The alleged victim, a 53-year-old woman from out of state, was communicating with a family member in Park City via text messages, and the family member was forwarding information to police.
Sheriff Rob Craft, Undersheriff David Huntley, and Deputy Derek Fetrow responded. Fetrow caught up with a truck similar to but not exactly like the one described near Clements in Chase County and stopped the truck, before Chase County deputies and Kansas Highway Patrol arrived.
Officers arrested Edward Lee Prentice of New York on suspicion of kidnapping. He was taken to Chase County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond, Chase County Sheriff Richard Dorneker said.
The alleged victim was released to relatives.