Father, daughter arrested for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting, leaving woman to die in Antelope Valley

PALMDALE, Calif. - Two people have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a woman from Las Vegas and dumping her in the Antelope Valley desert. 

The two suspects, Stanley Lawton, 54, and his daughter Shaniya Poche-Lawton, 22, were charged with one count each of kidnapping to commit robbery, kidnapping from outside the state, attempted murder and forcible rape, along with three counts each of first-degree ATM robbery, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Stanley was arrested Wednesday by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Palmdale station, and his daughter was arrested early Thursday morning.

According to the sheriff’s department the two suspects kidnapped the woman at gunpoint from Las Vegas, held her in a room, sexually assaulted her and then dumped her in the desert near Edwards Air Force Base. 

Captain Eddie Hernandez with the LA County Sheriff’s Department says the victim was found off a highway in the Kern County side on November 6th and had been with the suspects for at least a week. After being found she was taken to the hospital and later released. 

During a press conference Friday afternoon Hernandez said the victim and the suspects know each other but are not related. 

“That victim’s been transported across state lines, held in a room inside a house for at least a week, we don’t know the conditions she was held in. And at some point she was sexually assaulted and then left for dead,” said Capt. Eddie Hernandez with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Hernandez said she was left without any food or water; it appears the room she was held in was one the suspect’s Palmdale home. 

The victim has since been transported back to North Las Vegas. A motive for the crime is not known and the case is ongoing.