CRESTVIEW — An Okaloosa County jury found Karl Ronald Menz guilty of kidnapping to interfere with a governmental or political function and interference with custody of a child, State Attorney Bill Eddins announced today.
Circuit Judge Michael Flowers presided over the trial and set sentencing for Aug. 4. The defendant was remanded to the Okaloosa County Jail pending his sentencing.
Karl Ronald Menz faces up to 35 years in the Department of Corrections. Co-defendant, Virginia Lynch, was previously sentenced to seven years in state prison for her role in the case.
The jury heard evidence that Menz and his co-defendant, Virginia Lynch, the victim’s mother, had kidnapped their 3-year-old son who had been removed from their custody.
The only contact allowed at the time of the kidnapping was Department of Children and Families supervised visitation.
In March 2014, Menz and Lynch met at the Burger King in Crestview for a supervised visitation. In the course of the visitation, Menz and Lynch removed the child without authorization and left the state.
After an extensive search involving numerous agencies, the child was recovered in Henderson, Nevada almost a month later. The child had been transported across country in the back of a windowless panel van.
The child is severely asthmatic and requires special care and medications; none of which had been provided while the defendant fled across country with him.
The investigation and arrest were conducted by Crestview Police Department, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Henderson Nevada Police Department, and the Department of Child and Families.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Christine Bosau.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Man found guilty in Crestview kidnapping case