Trucker Arrested After Allegedly Locking Half Sisters in Refrigerated Trailer

A man was arrested in Utah after two young girls were found trapped inside his refrigerated trailer following a road accident.

On Wednesday, Sept. 17, Utah Highway Patrol discovered a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old girl inside the cooling compartment of the tractor-trailer Jacob Ortell Scott, 28, was driving on Interstate 15 in Lindon, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.

The two children are allegedly Scott’s half-siblings Fox13 Salt Lake City reported, citing troopers. It is believed not to be a human trafficking incident.

The truck driver was initially involved in a crash at around 11:15 a.m. local time, according to the local news outlet KSL.

“There was a car that had stopped in the roadway and was rear-ended by a semitruck and pushed into multiple other vehicles,” Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Cam Roden told the outlet. “So it ended up being five cars total involved in this second crash.”

Roden confirmed that Scott was the driver of the semitruck.

The two young girls were spotted after troopers “observed two sets of eyes” in Scott’s trailer, per ABC News.

Despite acting surprised when officials first asked him about the individuals, he later admitted “there were kids in the trailer” after confiding with a passenger, per the affidavit obtained by CBS4 local.com and ABC News.

The pair had reportedly been in the trailer for almost two hours since their journey began at Huntington, Utah, per an affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Officials said the temperature in the trailer was at 30 degrees Fahrenheit and dropped to 29.5 degrees Fahrenheit at one point.

The chilling compartment reportedly had bedding, as well as duffel bags and backpacks, per  Fox 13 Salt Lake City.

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According to reports, the children allegedly had no way to leave the vehicle on their own.

“From our understanding … really, there were two occupants in the tractor,” Roden told KSL. “There were really only two spots for the individuals to be in the tractor, and so the others were in the trailer.”

Troopers initially thought the girls were running away, but then learned the family was traveling to Salt Lake City for school tests and were also on route to do chores at a pregnant sister’s house, according to Fox 13 Salt Lake City.

“The 12- and 14-year-old, they were scared,” Lt. Clay Morgan with Utah Highway Patrol told the outlet. “They were scared that they were in trouble. They were scared that their brother was in trouble. They were scared that somebody was hurt, but after a while they calmed down.”

Neither of the girls sustained any injuries in the incident.

Despite being related to the children, Scott was arrested on child abuse charges and is being held without bail after being treated at the hospital for a hand injury, per ABC News and Fox 13 Salt Lake City.

The girls were then taken to another family member, according to KSL.

“I mean, it’s kind of common sense that we shouldn’t be riding in the back of any type of trailer,” Lt. Morgan told Fox 13 Salt Lake City, “but one that’s enclosed that you certainly can’t get out of, we would just ask, just use common sense, try and find a better way to get people where you’re going.”

PEOPLE reached out to the Utah Highway Patrol,  Lindon Police Department, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office Utah Department of Public Safety,  the Utah State Bureau of Investigation and the Utah Department of Child and Family Services for comment.