3 charged in armed South Side kidnapping of 2-year-old girl to remain in jail
Prosecutors said the child's mother kidnapped her from her grandmother's house at gunpoint, with the help of two armed men.
All three appeared together in front of a judge Saturday afternoon. The judge said the child's mother is the mastermind in what he called a kidnapping scheme that involved guns, death threats, and even leveraging her child's location for her own release.
In court, prosecutors said 22-year-old Angelique Mobley and 33-year-old Lamon Weathers were dating during the kidnapping. They said Mobley and Weathers, 27-year-old Matthew Price, and another unknown person somehow gained access to the 2-year-old's grandmother's building near 48th Street and Michigan Wednesday morning.
The judge said they had cased the building before forcing their way in and threatening the child's great uncle and girlfriend at gunpoint before taking off with the grandmother's purse, keys, and car. Mobley was armed with a wrench while Weathers and Price had guns.
The crew told police they ditched the grandmother's car before returning to their own car and taking off with Mobley's 2-year-old daughter. Prosecutors say they dropped the little girl off with a relative of Weathers in Danville, Illinois.
After a quick Google search, the relative saw a news story about the missing child and called the police, which led to her rescue.
Police caught up with Mobley and Weathers. Prosecutors said that's when Mobley told police she would tell them where her baby was if they let her go.
The state also pointed to a Facebook live by Mobley in which she said she was going to take her child back from the grandmother.
The judge expressed concerns about the background of the three.
Mobley has two pending retail theft charges. Price, who said he's a full-time babysitter with a battery and gun arrest. And weathers, who was arrested in a security uniform and says he's an associate pastor, has seven felony convictions, including an aggravated assault charge he just pleaded guilty to earlier this month.
On top of a kidnapping charge for all three, Mobley is facing residential burglary. Weathers and Price are charged with home invasion with a firearm. Price is also facing a stolen vehicle charge.
All three were ordered to remain in jail.
The judge said that Mobley, the child's mother, could expect a possible fourth charge of home invasion.
They're all expected back in court later this week.
It's unclear if the fourth person involved has been identified or arrested by police.
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