Ogden man had confrontations with girl’s parents in days leading up to Amber Alert

OGDEN — An Ogden man accused of taking a 13-year-old girl from her home, prompting police to issue an Amber Alert, has been charged with child kidnapping.

The first-degree felony charge was filed Wednesday against 34-year-old Christopher Thomas Wiggins. With the child kidnapping charge, an arrest warrant was also issued so the extradition process to have Wiggins returned to Utah from Colorado can begin.

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The arrest warrant outlines confrontations between Wiggins and the girl’s parents in the days leading up to the Amber Alert after they discovered alleged abuse by Wiggins against their daughter. In addition, Wiggins allegedly shot at the girl’s mother, the warrant states.

On Wednesday, an Amber Alert was issued about 5 p.m. after the 13-year-old girl had been reported missing earlier in the afternoon. Wiggins, a family friend, had lived with the girl’s family, according to police.

The girl was found safe Wednesday evening near Fort Collins, Colorado, and Wiggins was taken into custody.

According to his arrest warrant affidavit, Wiggins and the girl had been missing since about 3 a.m. Wednesday. Wiggins left his own young daughter alone in his trailer, the warrant states.

The girl’s mother told police that a couple of days prior she had found an explicit picture on her daughter’s phone that was sent by Wiggins, the warrant states.

“She confronted Chris who admitted to sending the intimate image to the victim,” according to the warrant.

Then on Monday, while the mother sat in her car — parked several blocks away from their home — with her daughter to talk to her about Wiggins, “Chris found them and shot a firearm at them. Officers were shown the bullet hole in the back of the car. The slug was recovered,” the warrant states.

“Once again, the victim and her husband confronted Chris about the incident. Chris apologized and gave them the firearm he had used. The (mother) then gave the firearm back to Chris,” according to the warrant.

On Tuesday, the girl told her parents she had been “intimate” with Wiggins, at which point her parents “told Chris to stay away from the victim,” the warrant states.

Police served a search warrant on Wiggins’ trailer and found a note that he allegedly wrote to the girl.

“The note expresses great love and affection. The note contains statements of extreme love such as ‘You are my everything,’ ‘I can’t possibly live this life without you,’ ‘I will sacrifice everything to be with you forever,’ and “‘if it costs me my life you are worth it,'” according to the warrant.

In 2011, Wiggins was convicted of two counts of attempted unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Police note the victim in that case was 14.

Investigators were able to “ping” the girl’s phone in Rock Springs, Wyoming, at 1:30 p.m. and a license plate reader detected Wiggins’ vehicle in Fort Collins about 5 p.m.

The vehicle was found in Wellington, Colorado, north of Fort Collins, and Wiggins and the girl were located nearby.