US man charged in Alberta model’s alleged kidnapping to face trial by year’s end

A South Carolina man charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct after an Alberta woman was lured to the United States with the promise of a modelling job is expected to go to trial before the end of the year.

A spokeswoman for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit court in Greenville, S.C., says Fred Russell Urey, 39, remains in custody after his arrest in May 2017.

“I’ve been in touch with the solicitor who has the case and he says it will likely be going to trial, which means it’s going to be four to five months away,” Marcia Barker said Thursday.

“They’re still doing testing on certain things, so the case is still being processed from our end.”

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Police have said the woman, described only as being between 18 and 25, flew to Atlanta for what she believed was a modelling job and had been talking with the accused for a couple of months.

Investigators said he agreed to pay her $15,000 for her work which would not involve “nudity or acts of sexual behaviour.”

READ MORE: South Carolina man charged with kidnapping, sexually assaulting Alberta woman

Police allege she was held captive and sexually assaulted after he threatened her safety and the safety of her family in Canada. They said the ordeal lasted five days, but she was allowed to contact her family via FaceTime while her captor watched. Somehow she was able to signal her location and give clues that she was in danger.

Her family contacted the RCMP who notified local authorities. They managed to track the couple by using cellphone signals.

When officers surrounded the trailer in Norris, S.C., the woman is said to have jumped through a plate-glass window to escape. Police said they broke into the barricaded trailer where they found a suspect in a rear bedroom. They say he held deputies off by putting a knife to his own throat before finally surrendering.

The woman’s name and her hometown have not been released.