WESTMINSTER, Colo. — A 13-year-old girl who was kidnapped by a man was found safe Tuesday evening, hours after her disappearance.
"She's safe now. She's doing well, so we are taking care of her," Westminster Police Investigator Cheri Spottke said Wednesday.
The girl's adult brother reported her missing Tuesday morning from the area of West 120th Avenue and North Melody Drive. The two had received a ride from a random man in Commerce City to do shopping.
"When [the brother] went in to use the restroom, the male drove off with his 13-year-old sister in the car," she said.
For hours, officers worked to develop the identity of the suspect and information about the car he was driving. Until this criteria was met, Westminster Police could not issue an AMBER Alert.
"There’s very specific criteria for the AMBER Alert that has to be met by a law enforcement agency, and it takes us time to get that information," Spottke said.
Shortly before 8 p.m., an AMBER Alert was issued. Several hours later, officers found the stolen car. The 13-year-old girl was still inside.
"Once we had her safely, then we continued to look for [the kidnapping suspect] and found him a short while later, about half an hour, in the same general area," Spottke said.
Police identified him as Bradford Eblen, a 45-year-old with a colorful criminal record who is on parole for allegedly stealing cars. Online, he's gained a reputation for lying about who he is and dining-and-dashing.
According to KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah, police arrested Eblen in November 2013 for dining-and-dashing on eight separate occasions.
"When reservations were required at a restaurant, Eblen reportedly called from a local hotel to tell the restaurant he was the drummer for an American punk rock band called Rise Against," the station reported.
Closer to home, Trent Dey, a tourist visiting from Canada, randomly met Eblen a few weeks ago in Denver while he was in town for a show at Red Rocks. Eblen claimed to be Gary Wiseman, a drummer for the band Bowling for Soup. The two share similar features.
"He pretty much said that since we came all the way out here from Vancouver, he'd take us to lunch because it's super cool since he was the drummer," Dey said.
But he says Eblen left the restaurant and never paid for lunch nor did he offer up the backstage passes he promised for Dey and his friend.
He never imagined this same man would be accused of kidnapping.
"I was very shocked that he's doing something as extreme as this," he said. "I'm glad that ... girl's all right."
As of Wednesday afternoon, Eblen remained in the Adams County jail.
