Woman taking part in race avoids abduction

by The Associated Press
| July 5, 2014 9:08 PM

LINCOLN (AP) — Three western Montana men police say tried to abduct a woman competing in a Fourth of July half-marathon have been arrested.

Authorities tell the Independent Record (http://bit.ly/VrmsnP) that 35-year-old Cecil Hale, 32-year-old Robert R. Wilson, and 49-year-old Stanley E. Wright were arrested Friday and face attempted kidnapping charges. All three are from Lincoln.

Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton says the 43-year-old woman competing in Lincoln’s Dynamite Dash on Friday reported on the course that someone in a green van tried to abduct her.

She escaped by running off the road.

Two Lincoln County residents spotted the van and recognized two male occupants and knew where they lived.

Police arrived at the residence and took them into custody, finding Hale hiding behind a shed.

Dutton says alcohol is a factor.