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Local man jailed on kidnapping, rape charges

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Bobby Caldwell was released from jail mid-November, after being charged with allegedly kidnapping a disabled woman and forcing her into a sex act Oct. 22.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Inv. Robert Turney said the victim, who at was first hesitant to tell police that she was forced into the sex act, said Caldwell talked her into going with him to pick up his other vehicle in the Pinedale area that was recently repaired.

The arrest warrant report states that Caldwell, 28, was a trusted person – friends with her husband and stepmother’s son. And out of all the people who could help him retrieve his other car, she was the only one with a driver’s license.

However, things didn’t go according to plan when Caldwell headed down some dark backroads in the White Cliffs area, where he allegedly pressured her into having sex with him by threatening to tell her husband that she made advances toward him.

It turns out the story about picking up another vehicle was a ruse to get the victim alone.

She told the reporting deputy that he showed her a cellphone video of him raping two teen girls, and threatened to “pull her out of the vehicle and rape her.” He also proceeded to expose his private area to her, and tried to pressure her to engage in a sex act. Seemingly desperate, he offered to pay her $200 to have sex with him.

Caldwell also broke her phone, and stranded her in the pitch-black night three miles away from Deadhorse at about 3 am. Walking with a cane, and after a harrowing three hours, she made her way to a store at Deadhorse and called the police.

“The victim stated that she was falling down hurting her knees walking on the dirt road trying to find help,” the report states.

A deputy took a report and transported her home. Three days later, with the encouragement of her mother, she told MCSO investigators the details of her sexual assault, which entailed forced oral sex and the unwelcomed groping of her breasts.

Among other disturbing details in the report, Caldwell reportedly asked the victim to help him hold down “a young girl” while he raped her.

Turney said that Caldwell’s phone was confiscated, and while it contained plenty of porn, at this juncture there are no videos of him engaged in rape.

He was formally charged with kidnapping, third degree criminal sexual penetration, assault with intent to commit a violent felony, aggravated indecent exposure, criminal sexual contact, and prostitution.

Caldwell has a preliminary examination scheduled in Magistrate Court Judge Robert Baca’s chamber at 1:30 pm, Dec. 13.

Turney encourages any other women that may have been victims of Caldwell to contact the Sheriff’s office at (505) 722-7205.

By Babette Herrmann

Sun Editor