‘I could have gotten you’: Man arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping at Valley Fred Meyer
Ever since a woman reported a man had tried to kidnap her and her son at Fred Meyer last week, Spokane Valley Detectives have sought for the perpetrator, who was arrested Wednesday evening in Liberty Lake.
Just before 6 p.m. on Oct. 14, a woman reported someone had tried to kidnap her earlier in the day at Fred Meyer on 15609 E. Sprague Ave., according to a news release by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman told deputies she entered the store with her toddler and saw a man walking in front of her, noticing him because he walked the wrong way through a checkstand. She described him as 50 to 60 years old and about 5-foot-8, with a thin build, brown hair and eyes, wearing a puffy, black motorcycle jack- et with military patches.
As the victim continued shopping, she noticed the man parallel to her in an adjacent aisle, according to the sheriff’s office. As the victim approached the check stand, the man walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm, telling her to go with him, the sheriff’s office said.
The victim said “no” and told him not to touch her, but the man continued to talk to her, the sheriff’s office said. A cashier saw the incident and motioned for the victim to come closer, in an effort to protect the mother and child.
The man said, “I could have gotten you if I wanted to,” before exiting the store.
The employee walked the victim to her car, where they saw the man standing near an old maroon Toyota truck, along with a woman in 30s or 40s wearing a jacket similar to the man’s.
The sheriff’s office obtained store surveillance video and a partial license plate number, with information on a distinctive sticker on the truck reading “Rock,” according to the sheriff’s office. With that information, deputies were able to identify the man as Natoine E. Lively, 54. Lively has a history of other harassment incidents in the Liberty Lake area and has multiple orders of protection against him, the sheriff’s office said. Lively also goes by “Rock” as a nickname.
On Wednesday, Liberty Lake police officers spotted Lively’s truck and conducted a traffic stop. When questioned, Lively said he didn’t recall the specific incident but that he had been to Fred Meyer in recent weeks, just not on Oct. 14.
When he was shown the surveillance photos, Lively replied something to the effect of “that is the Rock right there,” said police. Lively said the jacket shown in the photos was made for him to show the awards earned during his military career and is one of only a few ever made, according to the sheriff’s office.
After a search of Lively’s truck and travel trailer, deputies found the outfit he wore in the surveillance footage and an Oct. 14 Fred Meyer receipt with the incident’s approximate time.
Lively was arrested and booked into Spokane County Jail for second-degree attempted kidnapping.