OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – A teenage girl was found safe on Thursday night in the town of Dale after being kidnapped by a reckless driver.
The 13-year-old girl was found safe in a pickup truck after a man stole it in an attempt to flee from police in a drug-induced chain of events.
The man had methamphetamine on him and is facing multiple charges, including kidnapping and multiple counts of vehicle theft.
Deputies were called at approximately 10:55 PM to a report of reckless driving in the Town of Greenville to the area of the intersection of State Highways 76 and 96.
Upon arriving, officers found a black Cadillac Escalade that had crashed into the back of an Appleton International Airport Public Safety truck. The driver then stole the vehicle, a black Ford F-150 pickup truck, of a bystander who was attempting to provide assistance.
Several responding agencies found a stolen truck and a missing girl upon arriving. Inside the stolen truck was both a 13-year-old girl and a rifle.
Grand Chute police were called to a gas station minutes later at the intersection of State Highways 76 and 96, where they found the girl safe and unharmed.
The officers were pointed in the direction of the Town of Dale for the stolen truck because the girl had activated her “Find My iPhone” app.
During that time a call came in for a hit-and-run accident in the Medina area, which matched the description of the suspect’s vehicle, but the vehicle wasn’t found.
The suspect’s vehicle was eventually found in a field at approximately 11:38 PM in the area of State Highway 96 and Industrial Drive in the Town of Dale. The man was stopped by officers after attempting to drive away and was taken into custody without further incident.
The first reckless driving report came from when the man started driving a red four-door sedan. That red car was driven into a house and then rammed through five other doors of the property, which injured the house’s occupants. The red car was then driven by the suspect through the garage door of another home, where the black Escalade that rammed the Airport truck was found.
The man is facing multiple charges, including kidnapping, reckless endangerment, multiple counts of vehicle theft, multiple counts of damage to property, hit-and-run causing injury, burglary, and disorderly conduct. Drug use was a factor in the incident and the man had methamphetamine on him.
Toxicology results are first needed before officials can determine if the man was on any other drugs.
There is no information available regarding what will happen to the vehicles damaged in the man’s hit-and-run spree.
