CLEARFIELD – A Bigler man is behind bars for allegedly kidnapping a 14-year-old girl with plans of taking her out of state.
Christopher R. Swoope, 23, is charged by Clearfield Regional police with felony kidnapping of minor, interference with custody of children, concealment of whereabouts of child, corruption of minors and criminal use of communication facility, as well as misdemeanor lure child into motor vehicle and indecent assault.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the victim’s parents had recently discovered she was chatting with an adult male through the social media app, SnapChat, and contacted police on Sept. 28 after it was learned that she planned on going to South Carolina with him.
They permitted officers to search the victim’s phone, leading to the discovery of several messages that “Chris” had sent the victim about an hour earlier. Using the “Snap Maps” feature, police determined that his location was in the Morrisdale area and contacted Clearfield state police for assistance.
Several minutes later, officers were advised that state police had stopped the male’s vehicle near his suspected location; however, the victim wasn’t with him and was later found by troopers at another residence.
The victim told police she’d met the male, now identified as Swoope, through a friend and they had been chatting for a couple weeks through SnapChat as he was trying to help her deal with a situation.
She said she used a “burner” phone to make arrangements for Swoope to pick her up at a designated location in Clearfield, and once they proceeded out of the area and parked, he placed her hand on his private area.
Then, the victim said Swoope placed his hand on her inner thigh area and wanted to go further; however, she wouldn’t let him as she didn’t want Swoope to get into trouble.
She said she was planning to go with Swoope to South Carolina for a while, and that he’d also made a comment about wanting to get her pregnant.
In one of his interviews with police, Swoope claimed that he and the victim had been messaging back and forth on SnapChat for about five days, and that she had told him she was 17 years old.
He reportedly admitted to having picked her up several times including Sept. 28. He said they had kissed on three separate occasions—twice at a park in Clearfield Borough, with the third time being during their sexual encounter that day, which he indicated occurred near his garage.
Afterwards, he took the victim to his friend’s residence where he said she smoked marijuana. At some point, he left to go grease a truck but was on his way back when he got stopped by state police.
Swoope said he and the victim planned to leave on Tuesday, Oct. 1 for South Carolina, where he works assembling amusement rides for fairs.
Swoope denied that he ever sent or received any inappropriate photos with the victim; however, upon a search of his phone, police discovered three images of the victim—one of which was inappropriate.
It was also determined that Swoope had added the victim on SnapChat on Sept. 23, police said.
Swoope is being held at Clearfield County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday.