Payson man charged for attempting to kidnap teen, assaulting security guard in Midway, documents say

MIDWAY, Utah (ABC4) — A Payson man has been charged after he allegedly attempted to kidnap a 15-year-old girl and subsequently punched a security guard multiple times when he was confronted.

Abel Torres, 54, has been charged with kidnapping, assault, threat of violence, and intoxication.

According to court documents, deputies with the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an alleged fight near a resort in Midway on the night of Aug. 3, 2025. When they arrived, four men were in a verbal altercation, and a security guard was trying to break up the fight.

One of the men, later identified as Torres, was handcuffed and placed into a patrol vehicle because he was not complying with deputies’ orders to end the fight. Two of the men involved in the altercation told police that they were fighting because Torres had attempted to kidnap one of the men’s sister-in-law.

The victim, a 15-year-old girl, told deputies that she was waiting in her brother-in-law’s truck while he and a friend were working. She got out of the truck and decided to go look for them when Torres allegedly approached her and began speaking to her.

Torres asked the 15-year-old to come with him, and she refused. The victim told police that he then grabbed her hand and tried to pull her over to his vehicle. She was able to break free, at which point he tried to strike her. The teen managed to get back into her brother-in-law’s truck and locked the doors.

While this was happening, the victim was on the phone with a friend. The witness told the Wasatch County Sheriff’s deputies that she had witnessed it all happen and even saw Torres attempt to touch the victim again while she was fleeing.

A friend had accompanied Torres to the resort area and was one of the men involved in the verbal altercation. The friend told deputies that he was looking at the hours for a local recreation site when he saw Torres speaking with a young girl. He stated that he tried to get Torres to stop, but left when he was ignored, allegedly before the teen was grabbed.

Later, while in the same area, the friend told deputies that he was approached by the girl’s brother-in-law and his friend. They accused him of touching the 15-year-old, and he left the area to find Torres. The brother-in-law and friend told deputies that he was “running away” from them. When the friend told Torres about what happened, he allegedly went to “confront” the two men.

The brother-in-law reported that Torres began yelling “racial slurs and other obscenities” when he approached and “got in [their] faces.” Torres appeared to be drunk and reeked of alcohol, according to his brother-in-law and his friend. The two men waved down a security guard for help.

The security guard reported that while he was attempting to separate the two sets of men, Torres “refused to comply and was pushing him.” Torres allegedly began yelling racial slurs and obscenities again, as well as stating that he was “going to kill” the men. Torres then punched the security guard in the stomach multiple times.

Deputies arrived shortly after and took Torres into custody. He was booked into the Wasatch County Jail shortly after 9 p.m.