FONTANA – (INT) - An Iowa man who allegedly kept a 14-year-old girl in a locked room for an extended time has been captured.

Frank French, 72, had evaded authorities for several months. He was located at Sierra Way and Baseline Road and arrested without incident.

French fled from Council Bluffs, Iowa where he forced the girl to live in deplorable and inhumane conditions, according to a San Bernardino County sheriff’s statement. A later statement alleged the victim had been locked in a room for 4-days.

There were conflicting reports about the charges and the circumstances.

In a report carried by KETV in Omaha, Nebraska, Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilbur said the victim had only briefly been locked in a room. Wilber called the statement issued in California “irresponsible and false.”

“I am not generally ethically permitted to discuss specific facts of a pending case,” Wilber said in a statement. “I am making an exception in this case in an effort to correct numerous inaccurate reports which are currently making the rounds.”

Story Date: May 23, 2017