Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Preliminary hearing reset for accused kidnapper

Harrison remains jailed on $500,000 bond

---

By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Robert Joe Harrison, Jr.

A preliminary hearing for an airport security officer accused of kidnapping a 10-year-old Ketchum boy has been rescheduled to next week.

Originally set for Tuesday, the hearing was continued until April 25 for Robert Joe Harrison, Jr., a 49-year-old employee of the federal Transportation Security Administration at Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey.

Harrison was arrested April 11 by Ketchum police at his Cliffview Apartments residence on Williams Street in Ketchum. He is accused of enticing a Hemingway Elementary School student into his red Dodge Dakota pickup on April 10, driving the boy to the apartment complex and then releasing him after the boy refused to enter the residence to watch a Star Trek movie.

Harrison was charged with second-degree kidnapping in Blaine County Magistrate Court on April 12. He did not enter a plea, but according to a Ketchum police affidavit filed with the court Harrison denied the allegations when questioned by officers.

Public defender Stephen D. Thompson was appointed to represent Harrison, who is being held in the Blaine County Jail on $500,000 bond.

Harrison has been suspended without pay from his airport security job, according to TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon. He has been employed with TSA for three years and transferred to Idaho about a year ago from Walla Walla, Wash.

• comprare viagra
• viagra kaufen
• comprar viagra

Ketchum police seized items from Harrison's apartment but have declined to reveal what was taken. An investigation is still under way, said police spokeswoman Kim Rogers.