Man who kidnapped, shocked teen with cables gets three years

A Wichita man who kidnapped a teen, tied him up and used jumper cables to shock him in September 2015 will serve three years in prison, a Sedgwick County judge ordered Wednesday.

Authorities have said Robert McDowell abducted the 15-year-old boy on Sept. 26, 2015, because he was convinced the teen knew who was responsible for robbing him of his wallet at gunpoint six weeks earlier. McDowell was arrested after the boy told his father that he was approached by a man he knew while walking around Grove and Douglas, threatened with a gun and taken to a garage in the 2300 block of East First Street, where he was tied up with his own shoelaces.

The boy said the man clipped cables attached to a battery box to his ears and shocked him repeatedly while questioning him about the robbery.

Afterward, the man walked the boy home and left him tied to a trailer hitch attached to a van, telling him “you’re gonna be cold tonight,” according to a police affidavit.

McDowell, 59, pleaded guilty in December to aggravated kidnapping and criminal threat, according to court records. His defense attorney, in a written motion asking for a lenient sentence, said the crime was out of character for McDowell and prompted by the trauma of the robbery.

District Judge Seth Rundle handed down the three-year sentence, according to court records.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Man who kidnapped, shocked teen with cables gets three years."