16-year-old girl charged in kidnapping of twin infants from Livonia motel
(CBS DETROIT) - A 16-year-old girl has been charged in connection to the kidnapping of 14-day-old twins from a Livonia motel last week. She is the fourth suspect charged in this case.
The juvenile is charged with two counts of kidnapping- child enticement, two counts of unlawful imprisonment, one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping- child enticement and three counts of larceny in a building.
According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, the girl is not being charged as an adult. She has been given an adult designation, which means the judge has the option of sentencing her as a juvenile, or as an adult, or with a blended juvenile sentence that gives the option of imposing an adult sentence if the teen is not rehabilitated.
This comes after three others were also charged in connection to this kidnapping. On Thursday, Aug. 24, Curtis Lee Slay, 18, Demetrius Sherman Chandler, 19, and Shantell Re-Azia Jones, 23, all of Detroit, were also charged with two counts of kidnapping- child enticement, two counts of unlawful imprisonment, one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping- child enticement and three counts of larceny in a building.
At about 10:10 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 20, the defendants allegedly kidnapped the twin boys from their hotel room in the 30370 block of Plymouth Road after their mother left the room briefly.
The mother called 911 and authorities issued an Amber Alert. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office says Jones allegedly befriended the mother with the intention of stealing the twins and it is alleged she was aided in this by the other three individuals that were charged.
At about 9:45 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 21, the twins were turned in at the Detroit Police Department.
"It is hard to imagine a worse scenario for a new mother," said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. "The evidence in this case will show that these defendants engaged in a scheme to dupe the mother of these barely two-week-old babies. They allegedly promised her some much-needed assistance to gain access to her children with the express intent on stealing them."