![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kinki-mask-arrest.png\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Preston McKee (left) and Brodie Hester. (Maricopa County)<\/strong><\/p>\n PHOENIX<\/strong> – Two Pinal County<\/strong><\/a> men were arrested in Phoenix on Wednesday after police say they drove to New Mexico<\/strong><\/a> to pick up a 17-year-old girl they met online and sexually assaulted her in the Valley, according to court documents.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Preston McKee, 22, of Apache Junction<\/strong><\/a>, and Brodie Hester, 21, of Florence, were arrested on Aug. 5 by Phoenix police<\/strong><\/a> on multiple felony counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Court records say both men admitted to investigators that they had sex with the teenager, even after discovering she lied about being 18 and was actually was under the age of consent.<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n According to court documents, the investigation began with a tip to Phoenix police on June 17. Officers learned that McKee and Hester had driven six hours to New Mexico in a blue BMW to pick up the teenager after connecting with her on a dating app called Duet<\/strong><\/a>. The minor reportedly told the men she was 18 and trying to leave an abusive situation before traveling back with them to Phoenix<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Investigators say the situation escalated after the men discovered her true age through a phone call from a New Mexico detective and a state ID found in her purse. The victim told police that after learning her age, the men tried to buy her a Greyhound<\/strong><\/a> bus ticket home, but after a timing mix-up, brought her back to a nearby house. She told forensic interviewers that the men later bound her, put a ball gag in her mouth and a “kinky mask” over her face, took her to a hotel and sexually assaulted her.<\/p>\n The victim said that McKee eventually left her “in the middle of the desert,” where she walked until reaching a local Chipotle<\/strong><\/a> to call for help.<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n During police interviews following their arrest at a Circle K near 7th Street and Buckeye Road<\/strong><\/a>, both suspects initially downplayed or denied the allegations before changing their stories. Documents state Hester initially claimed only kissing took place, but later admitted to having sex with the girl four times \u2014 including after realizing she was 17. McKee similarly admitted to sex after knowing her age, telling investigators he “did not think it was a big deal” because they already had sex earlier.<\/p>\n Bonds ordered:<\/p>\n Hester is being held on a $251,000 bond facing three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, while McKee is being held on a $200,000 bond facing two counts. Court records indicate DNA evidence was collected from both suspects as they await their next court dates on Aug. 12.<\/p>\n Location where the pair was taken into custody:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Source:<\/b> Information in this report was gathered from Maricopa County Superior Court records.<\/p>\n Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Phoenix<\/a>Pinal County<\/a>Apache Junction<\/a>News<\/a>New Mexico<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Preston McKee (left) and Brodie Hester. (Maricopa County) PHOENIX – Two Pinal County men were arrested in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":986022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,53637,5643,1587,6082,1588,50,75715,1589,69770,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-986021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-apache-junction","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-maricopa-county","tag-news","tag-nm","tag-phoenix","tag-pinal-county","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117052367728714694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=986021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/986022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=986021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=986021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=986021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}