UPDATE: 'Kidnapping Victim' Located Unharmed

UPDATE: Officials with ERPD said Tuesday morning that Stanley Brotherton has been located unharmed in Rhea County, TN. The East Ridge Police Department is currently investigating charges of Filing False Police Reports against appropriate individuals in this case.

The East Ridge Police Department would like to thank the Rhea County Sheriff’s Department for their assistance in this matter.

East Ridge police are asking for help in an investigation involving an abduction.

According to a press release from the department, Sunday evening at about 10:48 p.m. East Ridge Police received a report of an alleged kidnapping having occurred between 9:55 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Stanley Brotherton, a 15-year-old white male who has been a reported runaway since February 25, was reportedly forced into a van parked in a lot at the intersection of Ealy Road and Court Drive by an unidentified suspect. This information was reported to police by a juvenile friend who was with Brotherton at the time.

The friend told police that the suspect also attempted to force him inside the van, but he shoved the attacker away and escaped to the far side of the parking lot.

A witness described the van as tan or gold colored,with “rusty rims on wheels.” It had no registration tag and was described as having dents.

Another witness in the area also saw the van but thought it looked mint green in color. Witnesses described the suspect as a male of light complexion, possibly Hispanic, wearing a black Pittsburgh Steelers hat and hoodie, and with black and gray hair and facial hair.

Anyone with information regarding this incident and the parties involved is urged to contact the East Ridge Police Department as soon as possible.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.