Yorkville man arrested in Utica as kidnapping suspect reported in St. Charles

A Yorkville man was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Utica, after police learned he was a suspect in a recent kidnapping that had occurred in St. Charles.

At 1:52 p.m. Tuesday, a Utica police officer stopped a white Jeep Wrangler for a traffic offense on Dee Bennett Road and Route 178. When the officer approached the vehicle, the female passenger had an obvious head injury and told the officer she had been kidnapped.

After further investigation, police learned the driver Shawn G. Strahota, 39, of Yorkville, was a suspect in a recent kidnapping.

The 38-year-old female victim, of St. Charles, was taken to St. Margaret’s Peru by Utica ambulance for treatment of injuries.

Strahota was arrested on complaints of disobeying a stop sign and driving while license suspended, then transferred to St. Charles Police for possible pending charges of domestic battery and kidnapping, Utica police said.

Utica police were assisted by Illinois State Police District 17 of La Salle, Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police, St. Charles Police and the Utica Fire Department.