Internet Luring Case: Nathan Kempter From Highlands Ranch Gets 19 Years For Abducting 14-Year-Old Nebraska Girl
DENVER (CBS4) -- A 34-year-old man from Highlands Ranch has been sentenced to 19 years in federal prison for picking up a 14-year-old Nebraska girl he met in a Reddit chat for runaways. Nathan Kempter was found guilty of enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
Prosecutors say Kempter met the girl online in July 2019 -- and that her screen name indicated she was 14 years old. They exchanged messages and e-mails for a week. Kempter indicated he wanted to have sex with the teen and that he would bring her to Colorado to live with him.
The girl was reported missing to the Lincoln Police Department on Aug. 2, 2019.
The reporting party told police the girl had been overheard talking to someone on the phone -- and a witness reported seeing her get into a smaller, red, four-door SUV.
Lincoln police checked her phone and identified the number she had called as belonging to Kempter. Kempter was also the registered owner of a red 2015 Nissan Versa.
Police called his cell phone company and were able to track the movement of Kempter's cellphone. They determined it was located just across the Nebraska/Colorado state line on Interstate 76 -- and contacted law enforcement authorities in Colorado.
Just before midnight, Douglas County deputies stopped Kempter in front of his house -- and Kempter admitted the girl in his vehicle was 14 years old.
The victim later told investigators that Kempter picked her up at her home and told to her to lie down in the front seat and cover herself, so that she would not be seen. She said at some point while they were still in Nebraska, Kempter stopped at a Walmart so that he could buy her new clothes. In Kempter's car, police found evidence that he had purchased boy's pants and a shirt, and a blanket. The victim also said Kempter told her what to say and do to avoid detection if they were contacted by anyone.
This case was investigated by the Lincoln Police Department in Nebraska, the Douglas County Sheriff's Department in Colorado and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
