Moffat County man arrested in Wisconsin; charged with attempted abduction

A 22-year-old man from Moffat County has been arrested in Wisconsin on charges that include attempted abduction.

Police say he met the 16-year-old victim on Facebook and groomed her for two years to convince her to run away with him.

Curtis Bowser was arrested Tuesday, and is now behind bars on a $35,000 cash bond. He is charged with multiple counts including child enticement and attempted abduction of a child.

Prosecutors say conversations between the victim and Curtis Bowser started two years ago via Facebook when the teen was just 14 years old. That escalated from phone and skype conversations to eventually sexually explicit messages.

Eventually, the now 16-year-old teenager and 22-year-old Bowser come up with a plan to start living together in Colorado.

While this is happening, police say the teenager’s parents did everything possible to end the relationship.

“The parents were fully aware and attempted to use numerous resources to stop the communication, however he persisted through his grooming process, which even involved him sending a cell phone secretly to the daughter to continue the communication without the parents' consent,” said Lt. Jim Valley, Brown County Sheriff’s Office.

Bowser was allegedly driving to Wisconsin to pick the teenager up. The parents told the police about it and they were able to arrest him before he got to her house.

He's due back in court next week.