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March 26, 2005
Family friend charged in abduction of girl, 10
Police find a body near pickup truck of top suspect, a registered sex offender
Cedar Rapids, Ia. - The search for a Cedar Rapids girl was called off Friday shortly after authorities announced two facts: They had arrested a 37-year-old man suspected of taking her from her home, and they had found a body in rural Johnson County.
It was not immediately known whether the body was that of 10-year-old Jetseta Marrie Gage, but it was "possibly of a young female," authorities said.
Roger Paul Bentley was in the Linn County Jail Friday, charged with one count of child stealing.
Jetseta disappeared from her home on Cedar Rapids' northwest side about 8:15 p.m. Thursday while her mother attended classes at a local college and her grandmother was baby-sitting.
Her 7-year-old brother told police that Jetseta left with Bentley, a registered sex offender and a friend of the Gage family.
Bentley, who was convicted in 1994 of lascivious acts with a 7-year-old Benton County child, was at the Gage home most of Thursday, working on the transmission of the family's van.
A statewide alert Amber Alert was issued at 10 p.m. Thursday for Jetseta, who was last seen in an orange coat and purple pants.
Cedar Rapids police asked for the public's help to find Bentley and his 1982 black-and-silver pickup truck.
Police apprehended Bentley at 7 a.m. Friday at a rural residence in Johnson County. The girl's body was apparently found at the same location, a run-down mobile home on a county blacktop five miles southwest of Iowa City. A black-and-silver pickup truck was parked outside.
Investigators cordoned off a large area near the mobile home, set up searchlights, and were still collecting evidence late Friday. Authorities would not say whether Bentley would be further charged or whether he provided information about Jetseta. Bentley's tie to the mobile home was not known, nor was it clear whether anyone lived there. Bentley's most recent address was in Hiawatha.
The Amber Alert, a system of notifying the public about missing children, was canceled Friday afternoon.
Suspect's brother has criminal record
Investigators would not comment on whether Jetseta's disappearance is tied to a sexual abuse case that involves Bentley's brother, James Howard Bentley, who was arrested last fall in the sexual assault of an unidentified 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl.
James Bentley, 33, was charged in November with felony sexual abuse over allegations that he assaulted a girl repeatedly over a two-year period in Benton and Linn counties.
The last known address for James Bentley is in Vinton. He's in jail in Linn County. Court records show he was a friend of the unidentified 10-year-old girl's family.
Linn County Attorney Harold Dentin said James Bentley is scheduled for trial May 31 in Cedar Rapids. James Bentley declined a request for an interview Friday.
Dentin would not comment on whether the charges against James Bentley and his brother's alleged involvement with Thursday's abduction might be connected.
Roger Bentley was convicted a decade ago for the sexual abuse of a 7-year-old Benton County girl. The abuse happened between Feb. 1 and March 1, 1994, while Roger Bentley was baby-sitting the girl at her home, records show.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and served just over two years. He was charged in 1999 with failure to register with Iowa's sex offender registry but was later acquitted. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 24, 2005, of driving without a license in Linn County.
James Bentley went to prison in 1993 for a Johnson County burglary and served nearly three years. In 1997, he was arrested in Linn County for third-degree sexual abuse and lascivious acts with a child, but was found not guilty on both charges.
Benton County and Linn County officials said Friday they could not access any criminal files because clerks offices across the state were closed due to budget cuts.
Girl's mother was in class
Jetseta Gage's mother, Trena Gage, was at class at Hamilton College when her daughter was taken.
She told a Cedar Rapids television station that Roger Bentley was at her house from about noon until 8:15 p.m. Thursday while her mother cared for her children.
"My mom gave my daughter her medicine and sent her to bed," Gage told KCRG-TV. "Roger (said) he'd be back today to finish working on our transmission. My son said he saw my daughter in the truck and he thought that she had permission because we've known him for so long."
Trena Gage declined to be interviewed Friday. A distraught message on her answering machine said that her daughter was missing.
Several cars were parked in the Gages' driveway late Friday, and a Cedar Rapids police officer was stationed in a squad car parked in the street.
Neighbors said police began to canvass the area about 5 a.m. Friday.
Cory Birkicht, a father of two, said Trena Gage came to his house at 9 p.m. Thursday looking for Jetseta.
Neighbor Rob Johnson told police he'd seen Bentley's pickup in the Gages' driveway in the past.
Several of the Gages' neighbors said they had no idea there was a sex offender in the neighborhood.
"It's horrifying," said Shawn Schild, who lives across the street from the Gages' two-story house. "We have a young teenage daughter. We want her to take self-defense lessons."
Johnson said the Gages moved in just before Christmas, but everyone was familiar with Jetseta. She played outside frequently, sometimes with her brother and sometimes with neighborhood children. She liked to color on the sidewalks with chalk.
Johnson said he greeted Jetseta one day soon after she arrived.
"I said, 'Welcome to the neighborhood,' " he said. "She said, 'This is the best Christmas ever.' "
Posted by Nealus at March 26, 2005 03:13 PM
