WEST VALLEY CITY — A West Valley man has been arrested and accused of sexually assaulting a woman with the mental capacity of a young girl.
Saeed Ghandi, 42, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail early Tuesday for investigation of rape and aggravated kidnapping.
The investigation began Monday when police received a call from a 21-year-old woman at a North Salt Lake gas station who said “she had escaped from a male.” After reviewing surveillance video, detectives identified Ghandi as the possible abductor, according to a police booking affidavit.
Police said they were informed that the woman “has the mental capacity of approximately a 9-year-old” and that she met Ghandi on a Facebook dating app. They spoke for several days before agreeing to meet at a park in Tooele.
But when the woman arrived, Ghandi “pulled her into his vehicle, and they drove to his house” in West Valley City, where she was sexually assaulted, according to the affidavit. Afterward, Ghandi took the woman to a nearby store, 3747 S. 2700 West, where she tried to get out of his car, but Ghandi “grabbed her, pulling her back into the vehicle,” according to the affidavit. They then went to the North Salt Lake gas station.
“Saeed met with an adult female who has a mental capacity of a 9-year-old. Saeed drove her from two separate counties, where he refused to let her out of the vehicle. Saeed used a different persona online to lure (her) to meet with him,” police wrote in the affidavit.
