Man charged with helping 14-year-old Theodosia girl run away from home

Todd James Richard Chapman, 20, of Mountain Home, Arkansas, is being held in the Ozark County Jail on a $5,000 cash-only bond in connection with aiding a 14-year-old Ozark County girl with running away from her home in July.

An Ozark County grand jury indictment was filed in the case Sept. 8 indicting him with a class E felony of interference with custody (removed from state) and the misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

According to the probable cause statement filed in the case by Ozark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Seth Miller, at 11 a.m. July 21, the Ozark County Sheriff’s dispatch line received a call of a missing 14-year-old girl. 

“After speaking with the juvenile’s friends, it was found [that the juvenile’s friend] Sabrina G. Engelhardt had left her residence and a note in the middle of the night. Sabrina and the juvenile were known to be together and friends; however, at no point did the juvenile’s guardians give Sabrina permission to take care of custody of the juvenile,” the report says. 

The report says that during the investigation of where the missing girl had gone, a call came into the girl’s guardian’s phone. A man on the other end of the line reportedly told the parents that his name was Todd and that the juvenile “needed time away from her guardians and was currently safe.”

Miller wrote that three days later, he was informed that the girl had known a man named Todd in the Mountain Home area. 

“I contacted the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office with this information. I was later contacted and informed both the juvenile and Sabrina were in custody after trying to evade law enforcement on foot,” the report says. 

The Baxter County (Ark.) Sheriff’s Department provided Miller with a copy of their interview of the Sabrina Engelhardt. She reportedly told officers that she had asked the juvenile if she wanted to run away, and the juvenile agreed. Englehardt said she contacted Chapman, who drove from Arkansas to Theodosia to pick them up. She said that Chapman met the juvenile at her grandmother’s residence and met Englehardt at a cemetery in Theodosia. From there, he reportedly took both females to his residence in Arkansas. 

He is scheduled to be arraigned in the case today. If convicted of the class E felony, Chapman could face up to four years in prison.