DETROIT (WWJ) – A 16-year-old girl has been charged in connection with the kidnapping of two-week-old twin boys from a Livonia hotel that prompted an Amber Alert last week.
The teen, whose name was not released, was 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.
Those are the same charges that were filed last Thursday against three adults in the case.
Prosecutors allege the teen, along with 18-year-old Curtis Slay, 19-year-old Demetrius Sherman Chandler and 23-year-old Shantell Jones kidnapped Matthew and Montana Bridges on Aug. 20 from their hotel room where the family was staying.
Authorities say the suspects took the twins when their mother "briefly left" the room at the Quality Inn & Suites on Plymouth Road. It was not clear why she left.
An Amber Alert was issued the following morning and the boys were dropped off at a Detroit Police Department precinct shortly before 10 a.m.
Jones allegedly "befriended the mother of the twins all the while intending to steal them from their mother." Prosecutors say Slay, Sherman Chandler and the 16-year-old assisted Jones in the plot.
The teen has not been charged as an adult, but has been adult designated. This means, if convicted, the judge would have the option of sentencing her as a juvenile, or as an adult, or to fashion a blended juvenile sentence with the option of imposing an adult sentence if the juvenile is not rehabilitated.
She was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon at the Lincoln Hall of Justice.
"It is hard to imagine a worse scenario for a new mother. 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," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said, per a press release.
The father reportedly told the media last week they were at the hotel because someone had previously tried to break into their home. Authorities are still investigating.
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