Bail set at $200,000 for ex-cop held in teen abduction case

Associated Press

Published Monday, June 29, 2015 | 9:14 a.m.

Updated Monday, June 29, 2015 | 12:40 p.m.

Bail was set Monday at $200,000 for a former small-town Oklahoma police officer accused of taking a 15-year-old girl from her grandmother's home in Northern California to a Las Vegas Strip hotel, where they were found last week.

Danniel Boone Morgan II, 30, was assigned a deputy public defense attorney, and Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman scheduled a July 13 hearing to decide if he should stand trial in state court on felony kidnapping and two statutory sexual seduction charges.

Morgan wasn't asked to enter a plea.

Morgan's defense lawyer, Steven Lisk, told the judge he didn't believe Morgan could post the cash or bond for release from the Clark County jail pending his preliminary hearing.

He could face up to life in prison if he is convicted of kidnapping, and up to five years if he is convicted as a person older than 21 of having sex with someone under 16.

Lisk wasn't immediately available for comment after Morgan's brief initial court appearance. Prosecutor Stacy Kollins declined outside court to comment.

Morgan, who stood in shackles, said he lives in McAlester, Oklahoma, and told the judge he knew he had been fired from as a police officer in Kiowa, Oklahoma. He was on a 90-day probationary period when he was dismissed, he said.

Morgan also acknowledged that he faces a kidnapping charge in Turlock, California.

Morgan was sought on a felony warrant issued Wednesday in California when he and the girl were found Thursday at the Treasure Island hotel.

The girl was examined at a Las Vegas hospital before being returned to her family. She didn't show signs of physical injury, a Las Vegas police spokesman said.