Woman Befriended Mother To Steal Twin Infants From Livonia Hotel: Prosecutor

LIVONIA, MI — Three people were charged Thursday in connection to the Sunday kidnapping of Livonia twin infants, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Shantell Re-Azia Jones, 23, Curtis Lee Slay, 18, and Davion Demetrius Sherman Chandler, 19, were each charged with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of unlawful imprisonment, one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and three counts of larceny.

Prosecutors said the group planned to take the 14-day-old twins, Montana and Matthew Bridges, from a hotel room at the Quality Inn on Plymouth Road between Merriman and Middlebelt roads after Jones befriended the mom.

The group promised the mother "some much-needed assistance to gain access to her children with the express intent of stealing them," prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said at roughly 10:10 p.m. the group were in the hotel room with the boys and their mother. When the mother stepped out to grab a drink from the vending machine, the group took the boys, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors did not say who physically took the boys, but video surveillance captured two women walking in the hotel and covering their faces.

Livonia Police said they immediately issued an AMBER alert Sunday night when the mother called police, although the alert did not go out until nearly 6 a.m. Monday morning.

When police issued the AMBER alert, they believed the boys were in trouble because they were only wearing diapers and were last seen with two unidentified women.

The boys were then dropped off at the Detroit Police Department's Ninth Precinct at roughly 9:30 a.m. Monday, police said.

The boys were unharmed and taken to a nearby hospital where they checked out ok, police said. Prosecutors did not say who dropped the boys off at the precinct.

A fourth person who was arrested in connection to the kidnapping was not immediately charged, as police were reviewing the charges since that person is a juvenile, prosecutors said.

"It is hard to imagine a worse scenario for a new mother," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. "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."