Convicted Utah pedophile steals school bus and uses it's list of names and addresses to try and kidnap children

© AP
Convicted child sex-offender, Patrick James Fredriksen

    

A known child sex offender has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a school bus and driving it around to pick up youngsters. Patrick James Fredricksen, 30 - who has previous convictions for unlawful sexual activity with a minor and impersonating a firefighter - was stopped on his way to one child's home in eastern Utah, police say. He had already used the bus's on-board list of children's names and addresses to try and abduct a young girl, they added.

Fredricksen has now been booked into Emery County Jail for investigation of theft of a vehicle and attempted child kidnapping. He is also expected to face a charge of damaging a prison after breaking a sprinkler pipe inside his cell and flooding the booking area, said sheriff spokeswoman Janalee Luke. Fredricksen's crime spree is alleged to have started while he was laying turf for a landscaping firm at a baseball complex in Huntington on Monday.

An employee at the site phoned the local sheriff's office to report a worker 'was acting strange' and had left on foot with a set of master keys to the complex. Shortly afterwards, a nearby funeral-parlor worker reported that his car had been stolen from the company car park. He told police he had noticed a 'suspicious' person around the building' but was talking to a bereaved family at the time so 'wasn't too concerned', according to the sheriff's office. They claim Fredricksen was the thief and that he drove the car to an empty school bus, which had its keys inside.

© Alamy
The empty school bus, thought to be identical to the ones seen here in Utah, reportedly had its keys inside

    

"After stealing the bus and using a list he found in the bus containing names and directions [to children's houses], Fredricksen attempted to pick one child up at her home and was asking directions to a second child's home," said the sheriff's office. He had been foiled in his first attempt to a child after parking the bus on the family's driveway, according to KSL News. The girl's father got to the vehicle first and would not let her board after quizzing the driver. Fredricksen was eventually stopped by a sheriff's lieutenant following a report of a suspicious person driving a school bus in the Cleveland area of Emery County. The lieutenant said he halted the slow-moving vehicle by pulling in front of it.

Fredricksen, who has also used the names Pat Shelton and Patrick Fredrickson, is on Utah's Sex Offender Registry after pleading guilty in 2004 to unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Court records show he was separately charged in 2005 with sexual exploitation of a minor and dealing in material harmful to a minor but the case was dismissed as part of an apparent plea bargain that resolved another case against him.

The following year, Fredricksen was living in Salt Lake County when he pleaded guilty to impersonating a fireman. He had previously worked as a volunteer firefighter for the Huntington Fire Department but was dismissed in 2003 for stealing clothing and equipment. After his dismissal, he pinned on a stolen badge and lent a hand at emergencies, the court was told. He discovered where the real firefighters were working by listening to a police scanner.

He also stole firefighting equipment and used his fake status to rent an apartment and get credit, according to newspaper reports from the time. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to have counselling.