Hot Springs Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Kidnapping a Minor Female

HOT SPRINGS, AR. – A Hot Springs man was sentenced to life in prison yesterday and his co-defendant was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for the kidnapping of a minor female in April 2022. The Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearings for the United States District Court in Hot Springs.

According to court documents, Samuel Wayne Bolling Jr., age 40 and Dayla Diane Ferrer, age 21, entered into an agreement to kidnap a minor female in an attempt to extort money from her relatives. On April 18, 2022, Ferrer approached the minor female in the downtown area of Hot Springs, Arkansas and requested her assistance. The minor entered Ferrer’s vehicle where she was immediately attacked and restrained by Bolling. Contact was made with the minor’s family and Bolling demanded payment of $10,000 in exchange for her safe return. Bolling and Ferrer held the minor overnight before releasing her the next day.

U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

Hot Springs Police Department, FBI, Arkansas State Police, Garland County Sheriff's Office, Hot Springs County Sherriff's Office, and the Atoka (TN) Police Department investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bryan Achorn and Carly Marshall prosecuted the case.

Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov