Ryan Gary Patch, a 28-year-old resident of Dayton, Ohio, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison and will serve a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. The sentencing took place in St. George, Utah, where U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen also ordered Patch to pay $11,093.15 in restitution to the victim.
Court records show that on July 24, 2024, Cedar City Police received a report about an abducted minor being transported through Utah. The victim, a 15-year-old girl from California, had been taken from her home early that morning and was en route to Ohio with Patch. She managed to contact her family using a newly created Instagram account on an iPad after her original phone was broken and discarded by Patch. He had instructed her to reset several electronic devices and deleted their social media accounts.
Cedar City officers located the vehicle based on information provided by the victim. Inside the car they found Patch and the teenage girl he claimed was his sister; police confirmed she was the missing victim after speaking with her. During their investigation, officers discovered child sexual abuse materials depicting the victim on an iPad in the vehicle. Authorities also searched Snapchat accounts belonging to both Patch and the victim, finding child pornography involving the victim as well as messages discussing plans for Patch to travel and meet her. Further evidence showed explicit exchanges between Patch and other accounts believed to belong to underage minors.
“It was only due to the victim’s technological savvy and quick thinking that Patch’s terrifying plan was undone. Nonetheless, his abduction of the victim has inflicted trauma no one should have to endure,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti of the District of Utah. Communities are safer with defendants like Patch behind bars, and it is our hope that the victim and her family can continue to heal knowing justice is being served.”
The case involved cooperation among several law enforcement agencies including Utah Department of Public Safety: Utah Highway Patrol (UHP), State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and Cedar City Police Department.
Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Burton and Brady Wilson prosecuted this case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort started by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation online by coordinating federal, state, and local resources for investigation and prosecution efforts as well as supporting victims (https://www.justice.gov/psc).
