Goshen woman charged in extortion case now linked to child kidnapping attempt in Vernal
Aug 25, 2024, 9:56 AM
(FILE) - The front of the Utah County Sheriff's Office. (Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
(Steve Griffin, Deseret News)
VERNAL — A Goshen, Utah County, woman already facing charges accusing her of harassing the mayor of her town is facing new criminal charges tied to the attempted kidnapping of a child in Vernal.
An arrest warrant was issued Monday for Amanda Kaye Bachman, 52. She is charged in 8th District Court with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary and other charges.
The warrant, which was kept under seal, was served Thursday when Bachman showed up for a scheduled court hearing in her Utah County case. She was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail where she is being held without the possibility of being allowed to post bail.
Back in March, Bachman and Beth Marilyn Schardine, 32, of Spanish Fork, were charged with theft by extortion, bribery and other charges. That investigation started when Utah County sheriff’s deputies served a court-ordered “Writ of Assistance to Remove a Child” on Jan. 10 at Bachman’s Goshen residence. Deputies had two warrants to remove a 3-year-old girl from the home and return her to the girl’s father, who had legal custody. The child was “taken from Bachman through lawful courts order” and returned to her father, according to charging documents.
In May, Schardine, Ty Lucero Whetten, 36, and Kaitlyn Anne Bachman, 24, traveled to Vernal with the intention of taking that young girl from the child’s biological father and then transporting the girl “to the child’s biological mother in another city,” according to charging documents.
Whetten and Kaitlyn Bachman entered the father’s residence without permission, resulting in the father — an officer at the Uintah County Jail — firing a shot inside the house, according to police who arrived shortly after. No injuries were reported.
Those three were each subsequently charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies.
Ever since the trio’s arrests in Vernal, Amanda Bachman has advocated for their release and participated this week in a small rally at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City.
Although Bachman’s new charges remained under seal as of Friday, court records accuse her of committing most of her crimes on May 15 — the same day police say Schardine, Whetten and Kaitlyn Bachman tried to take the child from the Vernal home.
In January, the Vernal father of the girl filed for a civil stalking injunction against Bachman but it was denied, according to court records.
Bachman’s initial appearance in court on her new charges is scheduled for Monday. The next hearing for the others in the Uintah County case is scheduled for Wednesday.
In addition to aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies, the other new Vernal charges against Bachman include obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; theft by extortion and forgery, third-degree felonies; and impersonating an officer, a class B misdemeanor. Amanda Bachman’s obstruction charge is alleged to have occurred on July 3.
Bachman and Schardine are already facing charges of harassing the mayor of the town of Goshen, in part, by falsely claiming on social media he is involved in child human trafficking. They are also charged with demanding a large sum of money in order for them to stop the harassment.
Shortly after deputies removed the child from Bachman’s home in January, police say Bachman posted on her Facebook page and other social media apps that the 3-year-old had been kidnapped by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office and sold into human trafficking. The social media attacks later focused on two local church leaders in Goshen. One of those men, Steven Staheli, is also the mayor of Goshen.
On Feb. 12, Staheli filed a report with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office against Bachman and Schardine, saying he was the victim of “ongoing harassment” from the women and that he and the second man were being subject to “lies and distortions” and that the women were “demanding payment for $1 million,” charging documents state.
In that case, Bachman and Schardine are facing charges of two counts of theft by extortion and bribery to influence an official or political actions, second-degree felonies; plus electronic communication harassment, a class A misdemeanor; and criminal defamation, a class B misdemeanor.
After the attempt was allegedly made to steal the child in Vernal from his father in May, Whetten was also charged with two counts of assault on an officer, a second-degree felony, and impersonating a public servant, a class B misdemeanor.
