A South Carolina man arrested Wednesday and accused of kidnapping a 12-year-old Arizona girl was out on bond, in an ankle monitor, in connection with the kidnapping of two other underage girls, authorities said.
Timothy Schultheis, 23, was wanted by authorities in Graham County, Arizona, on suspicion of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl. He was arrested at his apartment in Bluffton, South Carolina, where the child was found unharmed, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said in statement Wednesday.
Schultheis was being held at the county detention center Thursday pending extradition to Arizona, the sheriff’s office said.
The FBI contacted the sheriff’s office Tuesday and said Schultheis was suspected of being at his home with the missing girl.
The child, the sheriff’s office said, was medically evaluated and has been reunited with her family.
The Graham County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona identified the girl as Betty Taylor. Betty went for a walk near her Safford home on March 20. After she didn’t return hours later, her family contacted authorities, and a search began.
Officials in Arizona said the investigation continues.
Schultheis has been accused of kidnapping children before, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office was contacted by authorities in Aiken County, South Carolina, on Sept. 18, 2020, about sisters ages 10 and 12 who were believed to have been abducted from their home.
Schultheis was identified as a suspect, officials said.
Police found the 12-year-old girl at the apartment he then had on Hilton Head Island, police said. Investigators learned Schultheis had dropped off the younger sister at a church near her home.
The 12-year-old child was medically evaluated, and investigators accused Schultheis of sexual assault.
Sheriff’s investigators arrested him and charged him with second-degree criminal sexual contact, Beaufort County records show. He posted $15,000 bond on Sept. 18, 2020.
The investigation continued, and authorities obtained a search warrant for his apartment. Electronic devices were seized and analyzed, the sheriff’s office said.
As a result of the analysis, he was arrested again on Dec. 22, 2020, on charges of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of disseminating obscene material to a person under the age of 18, officials said.
Schultheis posted $5,000 bond in that case, court records show.
Additional court records in South Carolina show he has also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Aiken County. He posted $10,000 bond on Dec. 24, 2020, records said.
"As a condition of his bond, Schultheis was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet," the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office said. "Schultheis' electronic monitor was on his ankle at the time of [Wednesday's] arrest."
An attorney who was listed as representing Schultheis in the 2020 South Carolina case couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
Schultheis’ relatives also couldn’t be reached.
