More charges in teen's abduction, bail is increased to $1.3M

Prosecutors threw the book at a registered sex offender who had a 14-year-old girl in the trunk of his Honda Civic when he crashed while fleeing from police, with six new charges prompting a bail increase during Jared D. Conway's arraignment Tuesday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

Court Commissioner Ann C. Ameral said the man who was arrested early Saturday morning will be held in lieu of $1.3 million. She entered not guilty pleas on his behalf and appointed a public defender to represent him.

Conway -- who wore an orange and white jumpsuit, the color reserved for inmates who require protective custody -- was surrounded by five bailiffs as he told the commissioner that he understood the charges against him.

Members of the victim's family declined to comment after a brief hearing. Deputy District Attorney Douglas Raynaud said the girl suffered five broken ribs and required spinal surgery. He said investigators will seek a full statement from the teenager after she has had time to recover.

"It will be a little time before that happens," Raynaud said.

Conway, 38, is suspected of taking the girl by force sometime before 3 a.m. Saturday and putting her in the trunk of his car. According to police, Conway was a family friend who had been living in the girl's home in northwestern Modesto, in the 2500 block of Garvey Avenue, for about a month.

According to the California Coalition on Sexual Offending, sex offenders rarely prey on strangers. The Stockton-based group says 70 percent of sexual assaults occur in the home of the victim or the offender.

Authorities believe Conway came home about 1 a.m. Investigators found Conway's slipper inside the girl's room and the girl's blanket outside her home, along with a bracelet that looked as though it had been torn off.

At about 6 a.m., three hours after her father reported the girl missing, officers spotted Conway driving near the family home and gave chase. He was apprehended after his car crashed into a truck near the corner of Veneman Avenue and Chelmsford Drive, not far from Vintage Faire Mall.

Conway scuffled with police, hitting one officer in the face and another in the hand. The officers used a Taser to subdue Conway.

The injured girl was flown to the University of California at Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Her name was not released because of her age and the nature of the charges.

The authorities suspect that Conway intended to commit a sex act with a teenager. According to court records, he was convicted of rape by force in 1991 and assault with the intention to commit a felony sex act in 1987.

Conway was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to commit rape and held in lieu of $1 million bail.

The district attorney's office charged Conway with kidnapping for the purpose of rape, which carries a life sentence, as well as kidnapping, assault with the intent to commit rape, false imprisonment, evading a peace officer causing injury, battery upon a peace officer and hit and run with injury.

Conway returns to court Monday.

Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at sherendeen@modbee.com or 578-2338.

This story was originally published July 9, 2008 at 12:29 AM with the headline "More charges in teen's abduction, bail is increased to $1.3M."