Adam Hunter Harmel, 39, is facing a federal charge after authorities found a 17-year-old Utah girl at his Oregon home more than 500 days after she disappeared. The case has drawn scrutiny because another family accused Harmel of sexually abusing their 6-year-old daughter before the Utah teenager disappeared. The allegation did not result in criminal charges, but the Baker County district attorney says the investigation remains active.
Harmel is charged with transporting a minor across state lines with the intent that she engage in illegal sexual activity. The federal complaint alleges conduct beginning in May 2025 and continuing until the teenager was recovered on November 1, 2026. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation, and referred Newsweek to the federal court filings.
Newsweek has also contacted the Baker County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah for comment. Harmel was living in Huntington, a small Oregon community in Baker County near the Idaho border, when authorities recovered the missing Utah teenager.
Authorities arrested him during a traffic stop in Ontario and initially booked him into the Malheur County Jail. Little is publicly known about Harmel's life before the accusations. Eric Solari and Keriann Solari, whose 6-year-old daughter later accused Harmel of abuse, said their family knew him while they lived near one another in Huntington.
Their children reportedly attended school and played together. A person who shared Harmel's residence also told investigators about the Utah teenager, according to the federal complaint. The housemate said Harmel traveled to Utah in 2025 and returned with the girl, whom he described as his new girlfriend.
The witness said they were unsure of her age and did not interact with her until about two months after she arrived. Newsweek could not locate a contact for Harmel's attorney. The federal case centers on the teenager's disappearance on May 29, 2025.
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