NLV man arrested on 20 kidnapping, sex assault charges

A North Las Vegas man was arrested Thursday and faces 20 felony charges in connection with the abduction of a 14-year-old girl from Arizona, police said Saturday.

The charges include one count of kidnapping and multiple charges of sexual abuse, said North Las Vegas Police spokesman Officer Steven Wiese.

Police received a call about 5:45 p.m. Thursday from a 14-year-old girl at a convenience store who said she had escaped a house where she was being held captive.

In an investigation that lasted fewer than five hours, police learned the girl had been kidnapped from Arizona and had been held against her will in a North Las Vegas home.

Police said they believe 26-year-old Jimmy Carter Kim brought the girl, who had run away from her Arizona home, to North Las Vegas and forced her to stay in his home in the 1100 block of Dawn Valley, near Washburn Road and Camino Al Norte.

Wiese said details about the abduction are being investigated, but Kim may have "gained information about her through the Internet." Wiese emphasized it was not a luring situation, and Kim did not talk to the girl on the Internet.

"She was held captive in the suspect's home for approximately one month, during which time she had been sexually abused," Wiese said.

The girl told police she escaped the home Thursday, ran less than a quarter-mile to a Green Valley Grocery store at the corner of Washburn and Camino Al Norte and called 9-1-1.

Police were conducting surveillance on Kim when they pulled him over and arrested him about 10 p.m. Thursday in the area of Sandstone Ridge Park, where Washburn turns into Hammer Lane, Wiese said.

North Las Vegas officers searched Kim's home and found "numerous pieces of evidence during the search, including a firearm," Wiese said.

Police also found evidence that Kim may have had more victims.

The girl was taken to a local hospital Thursday night where she was treated and released. She has since been returned to her family in Arizona, Wiese said.

Details about the girl's captivity were not immediately available, Wiese said.

Kim's father, Dennis Kim, 75, told the Review-Journal on Saturday afternoon that police served a warrant at their two-story home overnight Friday. Investigators took three computers and two vehicles, including the elder Kim's.

For the most part, the elder Kim said he kept out of his son's business. "I don't pay attention, because he's 26 years old, I can not keep an eye on him."

The father said his son would bring multiple girlfriends to the house, some of whom would drive themselves, and some of whom he'd briefly met. He's seen at least two girls at the house during the past month, he said. "He's handsome. He has a lot of girlfriends."

About one of the girls he recently saw, Dennis Kim said, "I don't think the girl with him was 14 years old. If she is, she must've agreed to follow him" and wasn't kidnapped.

That's because, Dennis Kim said, it never appeared to him that any of the girls he saw were there against their will. And he contests whether anyone could be kept captive at the house, because the doors don't lock from the outside, his son was at "beauty" school four nights a week, and the windows could be easily opened in case someone needed to yell for help, he said. He never heard anything suspicious.

Girls would be allowed to be at the house, but only if his son was at the house, too, he said. "You are here; your girl can be here."

However, the night before police checked his house, Dennis Kim said, he noticed that someone was in his son's room while the younger Kim was at school. "I'm sorry dad. I forgot to tell you, that's my girlfriend," he recalls his son telling him on the telephone. Dennis Kim doesn't know who the person in the room was, because the 75-year-old saw only feet.

"(I) don't think my son is like that guy," the elder Kim said about the version of his son being portrayed by police. "If I heard someone's story like that, I'd get mad, too," he added.

"I can assure you as a father, as a good citizen, he can not kidnap anyone or he can not rape," he said. "He doesn't need to."

Police are trying to determine if there are more victims. "In these cases, it's highly unlikely that this is the first and only incident where this person would commit crimes like this," Wiese said.

Police urge potential victims or witnesses to call 702-633-9111 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or visit www.crimestoppersofnv.com.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber. Contact Ricardo Torres at rtorres@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @rickytwrites.