Wednesday, January 31, 2001
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Wednesday, January 31, 2001 |
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PTC man indicted for plans to kidnap child By JOHN
MUNFORD
A Fayette County Grand Jury has indicted a Peachtree City man on several charges relating what police called a plan to abduct a child from a local school. Andrew Joseph Magnuson, 22, was indicted last week for enticing a child for indecent purposes, criminal attempt to commit kidnapping and violation of the Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 1999. Police said Magnuson held two boys against their will back in October after offering to give them a ride home. He tried to lure them into his home, police added. The boys were eventually let go, but not before Magnuson "described explicit sexual acts" to the children, according to a warrant for his arrest. Magnuson is being held at the Fayette County Jail without bond. He was arrested near Oak Grove Elementary School on a golf cart that matched the color of the description given by the two boys, police said. At the time of the arrest, Magnuson had duct tape, a rope, bungee cords, a knife and other items in his possession that could have been used to kidnap someone, according to an arrest warrant. Days before his arrest, Magnuson was near the school attempting to solicit children for assistance in locating a missing person using a copy of a report he printed off the Internet, police said. The grand jury also indicted: Michael Andrew Shaffer of Jonesboro for armed robbery, failure to stop or return to the scene of an accident and following too closely and Ricky Shane Yarbrough of McDonough for armed robbery. Police said the two struck another vehicle and after the driver of that vehicle stopped, they robbed her of her purse and cell phone at gunpoint. Karl Bryan Hodge, an inmate already awaiting trial on murder charges at the Fayette County Jail, for allegedly having a sock tied in a knot containing batteries that could have been used as a weapon. He was also indicted for possession of a drug called Metronidazole. Hodge is one of three defendants accused of murdering a man in a separate incident which police characterized as a drug deal gone bad.
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