Kidnapped Utah child found in Nebraska with Arizona man

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - An Amber Alert issued Tuesday for a missing 13-year-old boy from Utah was canceled Wednesday morning after the boy was found safe in Nebraska.

The Arizona man found with the boy is in the Hall County Jail, facing a felony kidnapping and a resisting arrest charge.

Grand Island Police arrested Tadashi Kojima, 26, after officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle at a gas station just before 2 a.m.

Officers found a child and adult sitting inside a white Toyota Avalon at the Git N Split near the Grand Island Regional Medical Center.

Officers were advised that the boy was an abducted child from Utah who was likely with a stranger he met on the internet.

GIPD said the suspect resisted officers when they started placing him in handcuffs.

According to the arrest affidavit, the boy’s father told police in Layton, Utah that his son had been communicating with someone while playing Roblox and then was invited to talk on a chatroom service.

Court documents said on Monday, the teen went missing, believed to be with the suspect that he had been talking to online as well as through texts and Facetime.

The affidavit states that the two had arranged to meet and that Kojima picked up the boy in his car.

Several phone number PING’s, warrants and emergency disclosures were made regarding the pair. Eventually, he was located in Grand Island thanks to a concerned individual.

Kojima also has aliases as Aaron Zeman and Hunter Fox.

Hall County Court Judge set bond at ten percent of $1 million.

His next court date is Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. for a preliminary hearing.

Copyright 2022 KSNB. All rights reserved.