The man accused of kidnapping 9-year-old Charlotte Sena at a New York state park over the weekend has a minor criminal history dating back more than two decades and was living in a camper on his mother’s property some 25 miles from the park.
Craig Nelson Ross Jr. was arraigned on felony kidnapping charges early Tuesday morning and ordered held without bail, CrimeOnline reported. Police tracked him down after he allegedly dropped a ransom note in the Senas’ mailbox at their Porter Corners home, and they matched a fingerprint found on the note with fingerprints taken when he was arrested for drunk driving in 1999, Fox News reported.
In that case, he was arrested on September 28, 1999, and released in October after pleading guilty and paying a $325 fine. His license was suspended for 90 days.
Fox said he was arrested by state police in 2017 on a misdemeanor charge of criminal obstruction of breathing, but no additional details were available. A year earlier, he was arrested for misdemeanor aggravated harassment by Saratoga Springs Police, who said they had no record of the case, meaning it was either sealed or dismissed.
Ross was involved in another police call in 2016, but no charges were filed.
A neighbor who said he’d known the suspect since they were both children said that Ross became a kind of “recluse” and he didn’t recognize him with the beard he’s wearing in his mug shot. He said Ross left at 5 every morning, presumably for work, but he didn’t know what his neighbor did for a living.
He lived in a camper behind his mother’s double-wide trailer, where investigators found the missing girl Monday night. Police used “flash bangs” to make entry into the camper and found Sena in a kitchen cabinet. She was checked out at a hospital and reunited with her family.
“We are thrilled that she is home and we understand that the outcome is not what every family gets,” the family told Fox. “A huge thank you to the FBI, the New York State Police, all of the agencies that were mobilized, all of the families, friends, community, neighbors and hundreds of volunteers who supported us and worked tirelessly to bring Charlotte home.”
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[Featured image: Charlotte Sena and Craig Ross Jr./ Provided; Police Handout]
