A team of abductors accused of carrying out a convoluted plot to kidnap a North Carolina prosecutor looked up the wrong address online and accidentally nabbed the prosecutor's father, an indictment released Tuesday said.
Nine people were charged in the kidnapping of Frank Janssen, 63, the father of Wake Forest, N.C., assistant district attorney Colleen Janssen. Frank Janssen was abducted April 5 from his house and held captive for five days in Atlanta, Ga., before being rescued by an elite FBI team.
Authorities have said the kidnapping was intended as punishment for Colleen Janssen, who prosecuted Kelvin Melton, a high-ranking member of the notorious Bloods street gang.
Melton, 49, who is serving life behind bars in North Carolina for his role in a 2011 shooting, masterminded the plot from his prison cell using a mobile phone, according to the indictment.
Melton was indicted along with five other people — Quantavious Thompson; Jakym Tibbs; Tianna Maynard; Clifton Roberts; Jenna Martin; Jevante Price; Michael Gooden and Patricia Kramer. They face up to life in prison without parole if convicted.
In late March or early April, Melton enlisted Maynard and Kramer to build a team to "kidnap the ADA," who was identified in the indictment as a "Wake County Assistant District Attorney."
The indictment said Maynard went online to track down Colleen Janssen's address. She ultimately pulled an address for the prosecutor's father, who lives in Wake Forest.
Maynard, Martin, Thompson and Tibbs left the Atlanta area for North Carolina early April 5. Melton, still pulling the strings from behind bars, called them multiple times while they were on the road — at one point asking to be put on speaker phone to coach each member of the team. He even told them to wear khakis and collared shirts during the kidnapping, so they made a pit-stop at Walmart to purchase new clothes, according to the indictment.
The indictment did not say what happened when Melton found out the team did not kidnap the intended target.