State’s Attorney Wes Adams announced that 25-year-old Tristien Owen Willey was sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but seven years suspended for the attempted kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl in Glen Burnie last spring.
The sentence was handed down on Monday by Judge Paul F. Harris in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in Annapolis.
On May 15, 2014, a 12-year-old girl was walking home from Woodside Elementary School when a man, later identified as Willey, pulled alongside her in a silver pickup truck and asked her three times if she needed a ride. The girl ignored Willey and continued to walk on Oakwood Road. Willey drove away, but soon returned and exited the truck. He quickly walked toward the girl with his arms out. Two of the girl’s close friends were walking on the opposite side of the road and yelled for the girl to run. Fearing Willey was trying to grab her, the girl ran home and told her mother what happened.
The girl and her mother immediately got into a vehicle and drove around the area in search of Willey. They located the truck in the area of Crain Highway and Hospital Drive. They were able to identify the driver, Willey, as the man who approached the girl and followed him to his home on Cayer Drive. Anne Arundel County police responded to the home and questioned Willey, who admitted to offering the ride to two or three young girls.
On September 24, 2014, an Anne Arundel County jury found Willey guilty of Attempted Kidnapping and Second-Degree Assault.
“My Office is committed to securing strong sentences against would-be child predators in our community,” Mr. Adams said. “I appreciate that Judge Harris sentenced Mr. Willey to seven years in jail for this attempted kidnapping and I am thankful that the young victim in this case was able to get help and elude harm.”
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