A Phoenix-area homeless man is facing charges after allegedly living with a runaway teenager for several days. Shawn Paul Riherd, 21, was arrested on April 21 after being found with the missing teen outside an abandoned department store in North Phoenix. According to FOX 10 Phoenix, the minor, who had been missing since April 13, appeared ill and was hospitalized after testing positive for marijuana, meth, and fentanyl.
Court documents obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix reveal that Riherd had been in Arizona for about three to four months before his arrest and was described as homeless. Although officials have not charged Riherd with kidnapping, they claim the suspect knew the teen was a runaway and have accused him of child abuse and custodial interference. Investigators said Riherd met the teen through a mutual friend and "felt obligated to take care of the teen because the streets were unsafe." Meanwhile, clues to their whereabouts had been pieced together, including a Social Security card with Riherd's name found at an apartment complex where they were reported to have been staying.
The teenager's phone, which was discovered on a city bus in Tempe and later turned over to the Chandler police, played a crucial role in the investigation. "Many of the text messages on the teen's phone from April 12 to April 14 were deleted," the court documents detailed, "but photos found on the phone show the teen with two different people on April 13 and 14," as reported by FOX 10 Phoenix.
Riherd's defense, as outlined in the court documents, suggests that while he intended to protect the teen on the street, he did not force the minor to use drugs. "Shawn described approaching people on the street to smoke methamphetamine, and then [the teen] would approach them and smoke it as well," the investigators wrote. When challenged on this point, Riherd is said to have responded that "the teen made that decision, and did it on their own," according to Automart USA.
A bond of $25,000 has been set for Riherd, whose preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 1. Despite the severity of the allegations, the suspect remains not accused of kidnapping in relation to the teen's disappearance.
