A 16-year-old runaway from Nibley underwent a rape examination this week after reporting she was sexually assaulted by a man who picked her up along the road and drove her to his home near a Logan gas station. The man, identified as Majdi Adam Yahya, is now being held without bail at the Cache County Jail on three first-degree felony charges and one second-degree felony count.
Runaway Reported Missing, Then Found at Walmart
According to The Herald Journal, the teen's mother told police her daughter ran away from their Nibley home after her phone was confiscated when the mother discovered the girl had been messaging older men. The girl was reportedly heading toward Hyrum when, per an affidavit cited by the paper, Yahya swerved and disrupted traffic in his gray SUV to make contact with her. The teen told investigators she offered him $400 to drive her to Salt Lake City and then got into his car.
Yahya instead took her to his house, which the affidavit describes as located near Miller's gas station — believed to be the Miller Travel Center, a Logan station listed by ExxonMobil. The teen told police she was instructed to shower once inside the house, and she later reported that the assault occurred there. She eventually asked Yahya to take her to the south Walmart, and her mother found her there after social media users reported spotting the teen, the Herald Journal report states.
Teen Disclosed Assault to Detention Staff
The teen notified a staff member at a juvenile detention center about the assault, which led a Logan City Police Department officer to contact her at Logan Regional Hospital. She was examined by Northern Utah Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. Logan police had received a report that a sex offense took place in the city, and investigators obtained a search warrant covering Yahya's residence, cell phone, vehicle and DNA, per the affidavit described in the Herald Journal's account.
Police picked up Yahya at JBS in Hyrum, where he works, and brought him in for further questioning. According to his statements described in the affidavit, Yahya told police he picked the teen up on the side of the road and that she asked to go to Salt Lake City and offered him $400, which he said he told her to keep. He said the teen needed a place to stay, so he offered her an extra room in his house, made her food because she was hungry, and showed her the room. He said she slept three to four hours before asking to go to Walmart because she lacked clothing, and that once there she was walking fast, got spooked and disappeared. The affidavit also notes Yahya offered the teen a job at his workplace. He denied knowing her name or age and denied having any physical contact with her.
Prior Record and Pending Court Dates
Police investigation found that Yahya had a prior criminal history that included a sentence to sexual psychopath counseling, according to the Herald Journal's reporting. He was booked into the Cache County Jail on Thursday and is facing three first-degree felony charges — rape, forcible sodomy and aggravated kidnapping — along with one second-degree felony charge of obstruction of justice. He is being held without bail.
Yahya had an initial court appearance Friday, with another hearing scheduled for Monday, November 16. Utah Courts notes that its Xchange system does not display expunged cases and excludes juvenile delinquency, child welfare and termination-of-parental-rights case types.
