A 20-year-old Peoria man is behind bars accused of flying a missing 16-year-old girl from Montana into Arizona under a fake identity, then hiding her in a string of homes and hotel rooms across the Valley for weeks while her missing-person posters spread online. Berk Robert Blenski was arrested Tuesday while at work in Peoria, and a judge has since ordered him held on a $100,000 bond.
According to FOX 10 Phoenix, the teenager snuck away from a home on July 20 and was reported missing that same day. Investigators said Blenski used the alias “Kendra” to arrange a flight that brought the girl from Montana to Phoenix against her parents' wishes, and he later admitted to police that he bought both the plane ticket and hotel accommodations for her. He also told investigators he had sex with the minor multiple times, per the outlet's report.
Court records cited by the station show Blenski rented hotel rooms and housing to keep the teenager hidden, gave her groceries and clothing, and provided her with a dedicated cell phone set up solely for social-media communication. He also allegedly paid a friend $800 to harbor her, though that person's identity has not been made public, and drove the teenager to Mesa at one point during the weeks she was missing.
Parents Spot Their Daughter, Police Move In
The case appears to have cracked open when the girl's parents spotted her inside Blenski's car as it left a Peoria home, according to the same report. Detectives executed a search warrant on August 18, and police say Blenski admitted the victim had been hiding inside the house during officers' earlier visit — even as he denied ever seeing her when Peoria police first questioned him. Police ultimately found the teenager in Glendale on August 16.
Blenski also admitted to deceiving officers to conceal the teenager's whereabouts, and the report describes him as having repeatedly lied to investigators throughout the multi-agency search. At some point Peoria police served him with a restraining order forbidding contact with the minor — an order prosecutors say he later violated.
Felony Counts and What Comes Next
Court documents show Blenski now faces custodial interference, violation of an injunction against harassment, and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, according to Maricopa County Superior Court records. Under Arizona Revised Statute § 13-1405, sexual conduct with a minor between 15 and 17 years old is a Class 6 felony, carrying penalties that range from probation up to two years in prison for a first-time offender, along with mandatory sex offender registration, according to the Salwin Law Group.
The custodial interference charge carries far steeper exposure. Because Blenski is not the girl's parent or legal guardian, Arizona Revised Statute § 13-1302 classifies the offense as a Class 3 felony, punishable by up to 8.75 years in state prison for a first offender, per the Shouse Law Group. Separately, violating a restraining order in Arizona is a Class 1 misdemeanor under Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-1809 and § 13-2810, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine, according to the Arizona Criminal Defense Lawyer practice.
Blenski's next court date is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25. He remained in jail following the bond order. Records from the Maricopa County Justice Courts show this is not his first brush with the local court system — he was charged in February 2025 with reckless driving, a case resolved last August through a plea agreement reducing the charge to driving more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.
A Familiar Pattern in Missing-Teen Cases
The case fits a pattern researchers have flagged nationally. NCMEC data from 2025 shows endangered runaways account for 92% of the more than 32,000 missing children reports the organization supported that year, according to MissingKids.org. The same organization estimates that one in seven endangered runaway children is a victim of child sex trafficking, and that 74% of reported endangered runaways fall between the ages of 15 and 17 — the same age bracket as the girl in this case.
In Montana, where the teenager was originally reported missing, youth aged 0 to 20 accounted for 1,414 of the state's 1,957 total missing person entries in 2025, according to the Montana Department of Justice. NCMEC's annual analysis also points to online enticement — adults communicating digitally with minors to arrange secret travel or harboring — as a primary driver of these cross-state disappearances, a dynamic investigators allege played out in Blenski's use of an alias and a phone configured for hidden social-media contact.
Several questions remain unanswered. It is not yet known whether federal prosecutors will pursue additional charges, such as under the Mann Act or federal sex trafficking statutes, given that the case involved interstate travel. The identity of the friend allegedly paid $800 to harbor the teenager has also not been disclosed, and the outcome of Blenski's upcoming preliminary hearings in Maricopa County Superior Court is still pending.
