At 3:00 am Thursday morning, two men were arrested in West Wendover, after police received a report that a third man had been beaten and kidnapped in Taylorsville, Utah, and were probably in the Wendover area. The victim had contacted family members via text message, telling them he had been “beaten up and kidnapped” and giving them his location and his kidnappers vehicle description, which was passed on to officers.
West Wendover Police Officers found their vehicle at the Pilot Travel Center, on the main boulevard, and started to interview the three men. They learned that they had traveled from California to Utah for work, but the job fell through.
“The job that they were looking for fell apart and there was some animosity towards the victim, who set up the job. It’s unclear exactly how he got his injuries, but it looks like they took out their aggression on him. We got at least two states involved, multiple jurisdictions and third-party information, so we’re trying to piece it all together.”said then Lt. Don Lininger, Thursday.
Nathan Ferguson, 26, and Andrew Ussery, 29, were accused of assaulting the victim, but police said the victim “stopped short” of accusing Ferguson and Ussery of kidnapping him. So while he was transported to a Salt Lake City hospital to be evaluated, Ferguson and Ussery were released from the police.
Then the West Wendover Police contacted officers from the Unified Police Department, who visited the victim in the hospital to learn more about the incident. So while the victim didn’t speak in front of his assailants, he did confirm to the United Police Department that he was kidnapped. The UPD then gave West Wendover police enough information to substantiate the kidnapping charges for an arrest. Police located Ferguson and Ussery again and they were taken into custody without incident. Both were transferred to the Elko County Jail.
