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WEST VALLEY CITY — A West Valley man who police say forced a teen girl into his apartment is facing criminal charges.
Joel McEwan Shuler, 44, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with child kidnapping and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, first-degree felonies; child endangerment, a third-degree felony; and interfering with a police officer, a class B misdemeanor.
On Aug. 30, a 13-year-old girl says Shuler offered her vapes, and she followed him to his apartment, according to charging documents. When she told Shuler that she would wait for him outside the apartment, "he grabbed her by the arm and 'forcefully pulled her into his apartment,' where he started kissing her, the charges state.
The girl stopped Shuler from going any further and told him that she had to leave, "at which time he asked her for her Snapchat and gave her two nicotine vapes," according to the charges.
In September, Shuler sent the teen several sexually explicit messages on Snapchat and offered her drugs, prosecutors say.
When police went to Shuler's apartment on Dec. 4 to question him, he resisted, and officers pulled him out of his residence and arrested him, the charges state.
