Ala. teacher charged in Miss. girl's kidnapping

Published May 02, 2013

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. –  A high-school teacher from Alabama is accused of kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from school in Mississippi, sending a frightening text message to the child's mother and paying to keep her overnight in a hotel.

U.S. Attorney Gregory Davis says a federal magistrate in Jackson denied bond Thursday to 54-year-old Jesse Mae Pollard, of Northport, Ala.

The Clarion-Ledger (http://on.thec-l.com/153Tbm7) says Pollard teaches at a school near the elementary school where a woman asked for the child by name and left with her on Tuesday.

Davis' news release says that about four hours later, the girl's mother got a text message saying not to call police or "u wont see her again." She was released Wednesday.

An FBI agent's affidavit does not give a motive, but says Pollard had a dispute with the child's mother.

View the original article here

Arrest made in kidnapping of Los Angeles girl, 10, as second suspect sought

Published April 01, 2013

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES –  Los Angeles police say they've made an arrest in the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl who vanished from her home in the middle of the night and was found hours later six miles away.

Officer Sara Faden on Monday confirmed an arrest but wouldn't say if it was 30-year-old Tobias Dustin Summers, who police identified as a suspect over the weekend.

The girl was abducted around 3 a.m. Wednesday and found about 12 hours later, wandering near a Starbucks several miles away. She was barefoot, had bruises and scratches, and wasn't wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished.

Police noted Summers has a long criminal history dating back to 2002. Authorities haven't given a motive for the kidnapping, but said they don't believe Summers knew the family.

View the original article here

New York man reportedly fakes kidnapping to explain absence to girlfriend

A Brooklyn man faked his own kidnapping because he was terrified of his lover’s wrath.

Rahmell Pettway, 36, told cops he spent two weeks away from his Bedford-Stuyvesant home — and then staged the crime to explain his absence to his girlfriend.

But his poorly executed plan unraveled when the cops who found him hog-tied in the street noticed the roll of duct tape still dangling from his wrists.

He eventually came clean, and was arrested for filing a false report.

“He’s a total moron,” said one law-enforcement source. “It was a pathetic attempt to pull the wool [over] her eyes.”

Pettway was first discovered by a passerby at 1:10 a.m. Thursday between two cars on Macon Street.

Click for more from The New York Post. 

View the original article here