Arizona security guard charged in brutal attack-kidnapping
Scottsdale AZ Nov 16 2017 A man suspected of kidnapping a 94-year-old Scottsdale woman was identified by his fingerprints that had been added to a national database after he applied for a security-guard license with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, police say.
According to Scottsdale police, 25-year-old Ian Michael Nielsen’s fingerprints were lifted from a roll of duct tape and the door to the trunk of the woman’s vehicle, where her captor had placed her after binding her wrists and legs and placing tape over her eyes.
The woman suffered a broken sternum, dehydration and other injuries consistent with being bound during the Nov. 7 ordeal, police wrote in Maricopa County Superior Court records.
Court records also indicate Nielsen had served in the Marine Corps and was most recently employed at a security firm out of Scottsdale.
Nielsen was arrested Tuesday, a day after police say the fingerprints at the scene were found to match his fingerprints in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a national biometric database used by law enforcement.
Police alleged in court records that Nielsen knocked on the woman’s door at about 6 a.m. Nov. 7 and forced his way inside, knocking her down. He demanded cash and then made her take him to her car, where he drove around as she sat in the backseat, police said.
At one point, he drove to a parking structure at Scottsdale Fashion Square, where he placed her in the trunk of her car and bound her with plastic zip ties from his security job and a roll of duct tape he found in the trunk, court records say.
The woman told police she was in the vehicle for about an hour before she could free herself. The woman was hospitalized for observation.
After his arrest on Tuesday, Nielsen told police he was stressed and experiencing financial troubles due to child-custody payments, court records say. He was most recently staying at a hotel in Phoenix with his girlfriend and told police he had planned to move to Colorado.
During questioning, Nielsen admitted to seeing signs of physical distress from the victim he believed to be those of a stroke or other medical emergency, according to court documents.
He had considered driving the victim to the hospital at two different times but never dropped her off, court documents said.
Nielsen admitted that his actions placed the victim’s life in jeopardy due to her age and time left to the conditions inside the vehicle, court documents said.
On Wednesday, a woman representing the security firm where Nielsen most recently worked provided this statement from Alexis Security CEO Michael Flaherty.
“On Tuesday, November 14th our company was made aware by the Scottsdale Police Department that an employee had harmed a person in Scottsdale. The employee was promptly fired. While the person was not working on company time, it was and is conduct outrageously unbecoming of the reputation for integrity and service our company provides. Indeed, we are a veterans focused company and employ many who have served our country. The person in question was recently hired and worked for our company for less than a month. He had not shown up for work since November 9th. Prior to that he told us he had served as a reserve in the Marines from 2010 until 2017, and worked for PRIDE SECURITY LLC here in the Valley from November, 2011 until September, 2017. It was there the former employee received an FBI-approved Guard Card, permitting such work for PRIDE. The former employee passed a through background check, including a drug test, and had no criminal history. “
Nielsen is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery, second-degree burglary, and theft. A judge set his bond at $1 million.
His next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 27.
