OGDEN — A Roy man who tried to abduct and rape a 10-year-old girl has been sentenced to prison for at least 15 years.

Second District Judge Cristina Ortega on Tuesday ordered Richard Rodney Palmer, 44, to spend 15 years to life in prison on a charge of attempted child kidnapping and three years to life for attempted rape of a child. The judge said the terms would be served concurrently.

Palmer admitted to the charges in a January plea bargain.

A police arrest affidavit said Palmer was inside a convenience store on Aug. 27, 2021, when he saw and began following the girl, who had ridden to the store on a bicycle. After they left the store, the girl went to pass him on a sidewalk and he allegedly grabbed her by the neck. She resisted and screamed and the suspect ran away, police said.

Palmer allegedly told Roy police he was attracted to the girl and his plan was to take her to the backyard of a vacant house where he stopped her “to have sex with her or something.”

Utah Department of Corrections records show Palmer is on the state sex offender registry after serving three years in prison before being paroled in 2010.

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