GARDEN CITY, Utah — An Oregon man was federally indicted after he was allegedly found to be keeping a Utah teenage girl captive for over a year.
Adam Hunter Harmel was officially charged in U.S. District Court with one count of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, days after the missing Garden City girl was located.
Garden City teen safely recovered after being missing since 2025:
The grandparent of the 15-year-old girl originally reported her missing to the FBI Salt Lake City office in August 2025, nearly three months after she disappeared in May of the same year.
According to the girl's parents, she was "known to send and post sexually explicit images and/or videos in exchange for money," after she had been groomed on online gaming and social media platforms.
In the indictment, Harmel allegedly met the teenage girl online and told her that he was disabled before driving from Oregon to Box Elder County to pick her up. As the two traveled together, Harmel took the girl's phone and threw it into the Logan River.
When Harmel and the girl arrived in Oregon, he told the teen she was not allowed to leave. Harmel allegedly kept a knife under his pillow when the two slept in the same bed together, and made the girl "sleep against the wall to prevent their escape."
The indictment documents said Harmel told the girl he had an 'interest" in minors and sexually assaulted her.
While being held captive, the girl was forced to remove her braces with pliers so she could not be identified.
After the girl had been missing for nearly a year and a half, the FBI received a tip about her possible location on Sunday.
Harmel's indictment documents detailed how someone who had been communicating with the teen through online gaming and social media learned the girl was a runaway and that they were being held captive at a man's home in Oregon.
The girl was found Sunday in Oregon, although authorities have not shared any other details about her recovery.