VISTA — A man who tried to kidnap a 15-year-old girl as she waxed her surfboard in front of an Encinitas home was sentenced today to seven
years in state prison.
Jeremiah Owens, 28, was also ordered the defendant to register as a sex offender for life. He pleaded guilty in April to attempted kidnap for rape of a minor.
During Owens’ preliminary hearing last October, the teenage victim testified she was waxing her surfboard in a driveway last July 26 when Owens ran up behind her, grabbed her by the neck and forced her to the ground. Owens tried to pull the girl toward a truck parked across the street, where his roommate was standing, but she fought him off and running inside her home, where she called her parents and the police.
Police released sketches of Owens and his roommate, Christopher White, and a description of his truck.
Over the next two days, community members and businesses in the area provided numerous tips to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, resulting in the arrest and positive identification of both men.
White, also 28, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to kidnapping and will be sentenced to a year in custody on June 19.
