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MILTON, N.Y. – The 46-year-old New York man accused of kidnapping a 9-year-old off her bicycle at Moreau Lake State Park over the weekend has a minor prison historical past and was dwelling in a camper behind his mother’s double-wide trailer.
Craig Nelson Ross Jr. pleaded responsible to drunken driving fees in 1999 — forcing him to submit fingerprint samples which on Tuesday led to his arrest within the Charlotte Sena abduction.
A ransom notice, based on Gov. Kathy Hochul, was stuffed into the victims’ dad and mom’ mailbox round 4:20 a.m. Monday as state troopers had been standing guard. They ran two units of prints, and by 2:30 p.m., recognized Ross as their suspect.
However Ross’s prison fees had been comparatively minor till this week.
CHARLOTTE SENA KIDNAPPING SUSPECT CRAIG ROSS JR ARRAIGNED OVERNIGHT
Craig Ross Jr. pictured in an undated reserving photograph. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recognized Ross as the person suspected of kidnapping a 9-year-old lady named Charlotte Sena from a state park bicycle path over the weekend. He was being held with out bail on a first-degree kidnapping cost. (Saratoga Sheriffs Workplace)
Ross was arrested on Sept. 28, 1999 and obtained a conditional discharge the next October for a DWI case after pleading responsible and paying $325 in fines, based on courtroom paperwork obtained by Fox Information Digital. His driver license was suspended for 90 days.
The Sena household launched a brand new photograph of Charlotte Sena Tuesday on a GoFundMe marketing campaign to help the 9-year-old after New York State Police and federal tactical groups rescued her from a kidnapping suspect’s cupboard. (Sena Household/GoFundMe)
On April 21, 2017, New York State Police arrested him on a misdemeanor cost of prison obstruction of respiratory, based on a recent police blotter report in The Saratogian, an area newspaper. Further particulars in that case weren’t instantly clear, and a state police spokeswoman didn’t reply to a request for remark.
New York State Police gather proof on the dwelling of Craig Nelson Ross Jr. in Ballston Spa, New York on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Ross has been charged with the kidnapping of Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old lady using her bike via Moreau Lake State Park. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )
CHARLOTTE SENA RESCUED FROM CAMPER CABINET, KIDNAPPING SUSPECT BUSTED AFTER LEAVING RANSOM NOTE
A 12 months earlier, Saratoga Springs police arrested him on one other misdemeanor cost — that one for aggravated harassment, based on one other blotter entry. Specifics weren’t instantly out there. The cost can vary from annoying a sufferer over the cellphone to bodily placing them. Police mentioned that they had no file of the incident, indicating it might have been sealed or dismissed.
Ross was concerned in one other police name in 2016, however there have been no fees in that incident.
New York State Police gather proof on the dwelling of Craig Nelson Ross Jr., on 2133 Barrett Highway in Ballston Spa, N.Y. Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Ross has been charged with the kidnapping of Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old lady using her bike via Moreau Lake State Park. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital)
A longtime neighbor of Ross’ mom’s home mentioned the suspect’s mother was a imply “drunk” who by no means let him in her dwelling, a double-wide trailer in Milton, New York.
He requested to be solely recognized as “Michael.” As soon as, when Michael and Ross had been round 10 years outdated, the latter minimize his finger, Michael mentioned.
“I advised him we must always go to your mother for a Band-Help,” he mentioned. “She wouldn’t let him in, and he took this huge boulder and smashed it in opposition to the door and saved smashing it.”
On this undated photograph, Charlotte Sena smiles for {a photograph}. Charlotte was reported lacking this weekend after she didn’t return from a motorcycle journey whereas tenting along with her dad and mom in Moreau Lake State Park. (Courtesy of the Sena Household )
She opened the door, solely handy him a Band-Help and ship him packing. They went to Michael’s mother to scrub him up and put it on, he mentioned.
Ross’ mom didn’t instantly reply to calls or messages in search of remark.
Ross ultimately grew to become a “recluse,” he mentioned, and noticed him so occasionally lately that he did not acknowledge him with the beard in his mugshot. Earlier this 12 months, he mentioned Ross put a tarp over the camper window going through his – which at first he thought was to cowl a leak however now seems extra suspicious.
New York State Police gather proof on the dwelling of Craig Nelson Ross Jr. in Ballston Spa, New York on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Ross has been charged with the kidnapping of Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old lady using her bike via Moreau Lake State Park. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )
The suspected kidnapper left for what Michael presumed was work earlier than 5 a.m. He didn’t know what his neighbor did for a dwelling. The native WNYT-TV information station described him as a mailman.
County authorities mentioned that they had no further felony data for Ross past the brand new kidnapping fees. He went via two divorce instances, and he sued a girl over a 2019 automobile crash, however either side agreed to drop the case, courtroom data present.
New York State Police gather proof on the dwelling of Craig Nelson Ross Jr. in Ballston Spa, New York on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Ross has been charged with the kidnapping of Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old lady using her bike via Moreau Lake State Park. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )
On Wednesday, investigators in Tyvek jumpsuits had been seen eradicating bins of proof from the camper, which is parked behind his mom’s trailer in Ballston Spa, about 23 miles south of the place Charlotte had been kidnapped days earlier from a path at Moreau Lake State Park.
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New York State Police gather proof on the dwelling of Craig Nelson Ross Jr. in Ballston Spa, New York on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Ross has been charged with the kidnapping of Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old lady using her bike via Moreau Lake State Park. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )
State and federal tactical groups raided Ross’ camper Tuesday, tossing flash bangs earlier than arresting him regardless of makes an attempt to withstand seize.
“Inside the camper, they situated the suspect,” Hochul mentioned throughout a Monday night information briefing in Latham. “After some resistance, the suspect was taken into custody, and instantly the little lady was present in a cupboard, lined. She was rescued.”
This police handout photograph exhibits Charlotte Sena within the clothes she was sporting when she went lacking in Moreau Lake State Park on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Police handout )
State police had issued an Amber Alert Sunday, warning the kid was kidnapped and sure in peril. They canceled it two days later after she was reunited with household at a hospital following the raid.
Hochul mentioned it was not instantly clear whether or not Ross knew the Sena household earlier than the alleged abduction, however she mentioned he lived simply miles from their dwelling.
He’s charged with first-degree kidnapping with intent to gather ransom, based on courtroom filings.
“The defendant did abduct [the victim] and wrote a ransom letter with the intent to compel the cost of a ransom for her,” state police wrote in a felony criticism obtained by Fox Information Digital.
Gov. Kathy Hochul provides her remarks after Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she went lacking Saturday night and was discovered secure this right now and a suspect is in custody Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Latham, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )
He was arraigned in a single day and booked into the Saratoga County Jail earlier than daybreak.
“We’re thrilled that she is dwelling and we perceive that the result just isn’t what each household will get,” Charlotte’s household advised Fox Information Digital. “An enormous thanks to the FBI, the New York State Police, all the businesses that had been mobilized, all the households, associates, group, neighbors and lots of of volunteers who supported us and labored tirelessly to deliver Charlotte dwelling.”
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On Tuesday, Charlotte’s prolonged household launched a brand new photograph of the 9-year-old on their GoFundMe marketing campaign.
As Charlotte recovers from the ordeal, her dad and mom have taken time without work work to take care of her and her two sisters.
Fox Information’ Ashley Papa contributed to this report.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox Information Digital. Story suggestions may be despatched to [email protected] and on Twitter: @mikerreports
Who’s Craig Ross? New York ‘recluse’ accused of hiding kidnapped 9-year-old in camper cupboard
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