35-year sentence for man arrested in Oak Grove for kidnapping, ransom

A Texas man will spend 35 years in a federal prison after kidnapping a Kentucky woman and transporting a minor across state lines.

The sentence was handed down this week for 42-year-old Bryan Conley. In 2018, he created a fake online dating profile where he offered money and property to lure a minor from Ohio. The minor met up with Conley in Tennessee. He took the minor to Texas, stealing her purse and phone and abandoning her.

In 2019 Conley once again used an online profile, falsely claiming to be a modeling agent.

Conley met a woman in Shepherdsville where he took her phone, bound the victim and drove around Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

He demanded a $20,000 ransom from the woman’s family in Tennessee, and threatened to harm her if his demands were not met.

The FBI pretended to be the woman's family and negotiated a $400 ransom with Conley. They left it in a McDonald’s bag in Oak Grove.

Conley retrieved the ransom and was immediately arrested. The woman was found inside his car safe.

After his arrest, Conley was placed on home incarceration, but he removed the device and fled to Ohio. Conley was arrested again, and detained until his conviction by a federal jury last December.

He was also convicted of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and interstate threats to ransom.