With assistance from the Topeka Police Department and an FBI special agent, Cortez Police Department on Thursday night arrested a Kansas man on charges of harboring a minor and second-degree kidnapping at the Days Inn by Wyndham Cortez on Main Street.
According to a felony investigation hold affidavit filed Friday by a Cortez police officer, about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, three police officers found Michael Fitzgerald, 47, in a hotel room with a 14-year-old girl from Topeka. Fitzgerald was arrested and jailed at Montezuma County Detention Center.
Montezuma County Judge JenniLynn Lawrence on Friday set Fitzgerald’s bond at $30,000 and required GPS monitoring as a bond condition. On Saturday, a sergeant at Montezuma County Detention Center confirmed that Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office in Kansas was seeking a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and has placed a no-bond hold on Fitzgerald.
A Topeka Police Department press release stated the girl was last seen in Topeka at 11 p.m. Tuesday. Officers in Topeka followed her footprints in the snow from her house to the street, where police believe she might have entered a vehicle.
As police detained Fitzgerald late Thursday, the young girl was evaluated at Southwest Memorial Hospital and placed in custody of Montezuma County Social Services. Social workers have made arrangements to her to Kansas.
The Cortez affidavit states Topeka Police Detective Scott Dickey tracked Fitzgerald’s black Dodge pickup and informed Cortez police of Fitzgerald’s location. The affidavit states Dickey on Friday was working on securing a federal hold for Fitzgerald. Montezuma County Detention Center told The Journal on Saturday that there was no federal hold.
When three Cortez officers knocked on the hotel room door, Fitzgerald opened it wearing underwear and a T-shirt. Details in the affidavit were redacted, but in court on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Margeson said the girl wore just her underwear when officers arrived.
Officers reported in the affidavit that both beds in the hotel room appeared to have been slept in. Outside the hotel room, the girl told officers that she was not taken against her will and that they did not engage in sexual intercourse.
About 3 a.m., an FBI special agent requested that Cortez police officers secure Fitzgerald’s pickup and the hotel room and that the FBI agent would obtain a search warrant.
A public defender in court on Friday stated Fitzgerald is employed in Topeka as an IT director. She argued for a much lower bond than the $50,000 requested by prosecutors, because Fitzgerald did not have a criminal history.
Lawrence explained that a bond is meant to protect the community. Because Fitzgerald committed crimes across state lines and has no ties to Cortez, she set bond at $30,000. She said GPS monitoring would mitigate concerns that he might flee.
sdolan@the-journal.com
