A 6-year-old Missouri boy's mother, grandmother and aunt have been arrested and charged for allegedly arranging for a man to kidnap the child because they believed he was "too nice" and wanted to teach him about possible danger from strangers.
The three adults and family friend believed that staging a traumatic, all-too-real kidnapping and keeping the boy captive for hours was necessary to give him a shock lesson in the dangers of the world, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. All four suspects were charged with felony kidnapping and child abuse on Thursday, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a statement
"Family members told investigators their primary intent was to educate the victim and felt they did nothing wrong," the statement said.
Nathan Firoved, who works with 25-year-old mother Elizabeth Hupp, was asked to step in and help the family members, including 38-year-old aunt Denise Kroutil and 58-year-old grandmother Rose Brewer, in executing the deranged plot.
On Monday, the 23-year-old lured the boy into a pickup truck after he had gotten off his school bus in Troy, a rural town outside St Louis, then threatened the child that he'd never "see his mommy again" and was going to get "nailed to the wall of a shed," KSDK reported.
At one point, Firoved even waved a handgun at the boy in an attempt to make the 6-year-old stop crying, authorities said. However when the boy continued to cry, Firoved allegedly bound his hands and feet with plastic bags and put a jacket over his head to blindfold him.
After driving the boy to his home, he guided the blindfolded child into the basement where the boy's aunt took off his pants, told him he was going to be sold into sex slavery and yelled at him for not resisting her.
The family members finally bought the boy upstairs after several hours, where they proceeded to lecture him about staying away from strangers, according to the Associated Press.
Following the incident, the boy reported the four-hour kidnapping to school officials and was immediately placed in protective custody on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, all four suspects are being held in Lincoln County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. It wasn't immediately known if they had attorneys.
