Man arrested on child kidnapping charges after chasing down group of young pranksters and assaulting child

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — After a group of juveniles doorbell ditched his house, a man allegedly chased them down, assaulted one child, and forced the child to walk with him to a nearby gas station.

Tony Bernstone, 58, was arrested on August 2 on suspicion of child kidnapping, a first-degree felony, and child abuse, a class A misdemeanor.

According to the filed affidavit, the group of juveniles were having a sleepover when they decided to doorbell ditch nearby houses. They rang Bernstone’s doorbell, and he exited the home, got onto a bicycle, and chased after them.

When Bernstone caught up to them, he allegedly grabbed the victim by his shirt, yelled at him, and slapped and punched him several times. He also allegedly took a video of himself holding the victim by the throat, which Bernstone said was to show the police.

Bernstone then allegedly forced the victim to walk with him, and the victim used his smart watch to call his father and tell him what was happening. Bernstone agreed to meet the victim’s father at a nearby Maverik and allowed the victim to walk on his own next to him, but the victim later told police that he didn’t feel safe to try to get away from Bernstone.

When police officers arrived on scene, Bernstone allegedly told them that he pushed the victim up against a fence and slapped him across the mouth several times to get him to stop running away.

Bernstone allegedly told police that he had been dealing with kids doorbell ditching his house for several years and that he was frustrated. However, he also said that he knew the group of juveniles and knew that they were not the same people who had been doorbell ditching him in the past.

According to witnesses, Bernstein was yelling that he was going to “beat the s*** out of them.”