Ohio man sentenced to 15 years in prison after kidnapping teenager & being caught in Utah

ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — An Ohio man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for kidnapping and sexually abusing a 15-year-old from California after he was captured and arrested in Cedar City in 2024.

Ryan Gary Patch, 28, of Dayton, Ohio pleaded guilty on March 27, 2025 to transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. He was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison and was also ordered to pay over $11,000 in restitution to the victim.

According to a news release from the Utah District of the United States Attorney’s Office, Patch met the 15-year-old victim on Instagram.

On the morning of July 24, 2024, Patch took the victim from her home in California and began to transport her to Ohio. He also broke and destroyed her phone before he took her, told her to factory reset other devices, and deleted both of their respective Snapchat and Instagram accounts.

However, the victim was able to contact her family from a new Instagram account on a newly gifted iPad, and she shared information with them about her location.

From there, Cedar City Police received a call about an abducted minor being transported through Utah, and based on the location the victim provided, they were able to locate a victim matching the description of the car Patch was driving.

Police found a teenager in the back seat and an adult man in the front seat — Patch — who repeatedly said that the girl was his sister. Police spoke to her and determined that she was the victim they were looking for.

Patch was arrested, and police also found child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) involving the victim on an iPad in the vehicle, and upon searching their Snapchat accounts, found more CSAM depicting the victim and chats detailing Patch’s plans to “come get” the victim.

They found additional evidence on Patch’s account of him messaging accounts belonging to other minors and exchanging explicit photographs.

The case was investigated by the Utah Department of Public Safety, State Bureau of Investigation, and the Cedar City Police Department. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.

This case was part of Project Safe Childhood, which is a nationwide initiative to stop child sexual exploitation and abuse. You can read more about Project Safe Childhood on the Department of Justice’s website here.