Ohio Child Predator Sentenced to 15 Years’ Imprisonment for Kidnapping and Sexually Abusing a California Teen

ST. GEORGE, Utah – Ryan Gary Patch, 28, of Dayton, Ohio, was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment today and a lifetime term of supervised release after he kidnapped and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl that he met on Instagram, before he was captured and arrested in Cedar City, Utah.

The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen, comes after Patch pleaded guilty on March 27, 2025, to transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. As part of his sentence, the court ordered Patch to pay $11,093.15 in restitution to the victim.

According to court documents and statements made at Patch’s change of plea and sentencing hearings, on July 24, 2024, the Cedar City Police Department received a call of an abducted minor being transported through Utah. According to the reporting party, the 15-year-old victim was taken from her home in California in the early morning hours of July 24, 2024, and was being transported to Ohio. The victim contacted her family from a newly created Instagram account on a newly gifted iPad and provided them information on her whereabouts. The victim’s phone was previously broken and disposed of by Patch before he took her from California. He also told the victim to factory reset various electronic devices and deleted their respective Snapchat and Instagram accounts. Based on the provided victim’s location, officers in Cedar City responded and found a car matching the description the victim had provided. In the car, officers found a teenage girl in the back seat and an adult male in the front seat, later identified as Patch, who appeared to be sleeping. Patch repeatedly claimed the girl was his sister, but after speaking to her, officers confirmed she was the victim they were looking for. Patch was arrested and officers found child sexual abuse materials depicting the victim on an iPad in the vehicle. Investigators also executed search warrants on Snapchat accounts known to belong to Patch and the victim. Both accounts contained child pornography depicting the victim and Patch’s plans to “come get” the victim. Patch’s account also had messages and explicit photograph exchanges with other accounts that appeared to belong to underage minors.

“It was only due to the victim’s technological savvy and quick thinking that Patch’s terrifying plan was undone. Nonetheless, his abduction of the victim has inflicted trauma no one should have to endure,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti of the District of Utah. Communities are safer with defendants like Patch behind bars, and it is our hope that the victim and her family can continue to heal knowing justice is being served.”

The case was investigated jointly by the Utah Department of Public Safety: Utah Highway Patrol (UHP), State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and the Cedar City Police Department.   

Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Burton and Brady Wilson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.