Kidnapping dropped, but Utah man still faces sex abuse charges

Ogden • A Weber County man accused of kidnapping a teenage boy at an Ogden train station and forcing the boy to commit sexual acts with him over several days is scheduled to be in court on Monday – but is now facing very different charges.

Ryan Mitchell Schaffer, 34, is now charged in Ogden's 2nd District Court with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, all third-degree felonies.

Previously, he was charged in January with four first-degree felonies: one charge of aggravated kidnapping and three charges of forcible sodomy. Those charges were dropped and replaced by the new ones.

Monday's court appearance is scheduled as a "resolution" hearing, indicating that the case may be settled.

Police say Schaffer allegedly approached the teen at a FrontRunner station on July 3, 2013, and threatened him with a knife. Schaffer allegedly took the boy all over Ogden over the next three days and forced the boy to have sex, sometimes at gunpoint.

Schaffer left Utah and was eventually arrested in California and had to be extradited back to the state. While police said the man was fleeing, his defense attorney said in court papers that the man was on vacation and had no idea he was being charged with a crime.

After the charges were amended in late July, Schaffer's defense attorney, Paul Remy, asked for his $100,00 cash-only bail to be reduced. A judge agreed to lower the bail amount to $15,000 bondable, and on July 29, Schaffer bailed out of the Weber County jail.

Schaffer is a registered sex offender in Utah, stemming from a 2007 case in Salt Lake County in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree felony exploitation of a minor.

jmiller@sltrib.com

Twitter: @jm_miller