<p>A 55-year-old man dressed as Santa Claus forced an 8-year-old Georgia girl to ride in his motorcycle's sidecar for several minutes and was charged with kidnapping, authorities said.</p><p>The girl, of Augusta, Ga., and her family stopped at a convenience store off Interstate 20 about 8 p.m. Sunday when they noticed John Michael Barton dressed in a Santa Claus suit, refueling his motorcycle, police said.</p><p>Barton asked the children to come over and look at a stuffed Rudolph he had in his sidecar. Then, he started up his motorcycle and drove away with the 8-year-old girl, authorities said.</p><p>"It really saddens me that someone would drive around in a Santa suit and act the way he acted," the girl's father, Tripp Morris, told WLTX-TV in Columbia. "I could see my daughter's hair flying, and I just thought he might hurt her."</p><p>Morris followed Barton, reaching speeds up to 80 mph and flashing his headlights repeatedly, police said. Barton eventually stopped at a church parking lot, and the father picked up his daughter, who was not injured.</p><p>Barton, of Leesville, was arrested about 10 p.m. Sunday, when police found him hiding in a utility room at a nearby bar, authorities said.</p><p>Barton had been drinking alcohol Sunday night, including several glasses of wine at the bar where officers arrested him, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said in a release. Police took custody of his Santa Claus hat, wine glass, and motorcycle and sidecar.</p><p>Barton was being held Monday at the Lexington County jail on $100,000 bond.</p><p>At Monday's bond hearing, a judge told Barton he could not have any contact with children, said Lexington County sheriff's spokesman John Allard.</p><p>Barton did not have an attorney at the hearing, Allard said. A call to the Lexington County public defender's office was not immediately returned.</p><p>"We're really not sure what his motivation was," Allard said.</p><p>Barton had been portraying Santa Claus for several weeks throughout Lexington County and had given rides to other children in the area and had posed for photographs with children by his motorcycle, Metts said.</p>
