Toulumne County Sheriff's Deputies Use GPS To Locate Kidnapping Victim, Suspect
TUOLUMNE COUNTY (CBS13) - A Tuolumne County man was arrested last week on suspicion of kidnapping and sex crimes.
On Thursday, the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office received a report of a sexual assault. With the help of the person who called the sheriff's office, deputies were able to track down the victim, a 19-year-old female, using GPS coordinates, according to a sheriff's department statement. When deputies found the teen, she was still with the suspect, a man identified as Chad Vanhulzen, 45, of Sonora.
Based on their preliminary investigation, deputies arrested Vanhulzen on suspicion of felony sex crimes, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and attempting to dissuade a victim from reporting, they say.
Deputies say Vanhulzen reportedly met the victim on a dating website just a few days prior to the incident and just had met in person for the first time the evening before he was arrested.
The investigation is ongoing.