Who’s Craig Ross? New York ‘recluse’ accused of hiding kidnapped 9-year-old in camper cupboard

Harris Marley
Harris Marley

World Courant

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 legal historical past and was dwelling in a camper behind his mother’s double-wide trailer.

Craig Nelson Ross Jr. pleaded responsible to drunken driving expenses in 1999 — forcing him to submit fingerprint samples which on Tuesday led to his arrest within the Charlotte Sena abduction.

A ransom be aware, in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul, was stuffed into the victims’ mother and father’ 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.

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However Ross’s legal expenses 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 acquired a conditional discharge the next October for a DWI case after pleading responsible and paying $325 in fines, in response to court docket 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 assist the 9-year-old after New York State Police and federal tactical groups rescued her from a kidnapping suspect’s cupboard. (Sena Household/GoFundMe)

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On April 21, 2017, New York State Police arrested him on a misdemeanor cost of legal obstruction of respiratory, in response to a recent police blotter report in The Saratogian, an area newspaper. Extra 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 acquire 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

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A yr earlier, Saratoga Springs police arrested him on one other misdemeanor cost — that one for aggravated harassment, in response to one other blotter entry. Specifics weren’t instantly accessible. The cost can vary from annoying a sufferer over the telephone to bodily putting them. Police mentioned that they had no document of the incident, indicating it could have been sealed or dismissed.

Ross was concerned in one other police name in 2016, however there have been no expenses in that incident. 

New York State Police acquire 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 lower his finger, Michael mentioned. 

“I advised him we should always go to your mother for a Band-Support,” he mentioned. “She wouldn’t let him in, and he took this massive boulder and smashed it towards the door and stored 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 together with her mother and father in Moreau Lake State Park. (Courtesy of the Sena Household )

She opened the door, solely at hand him a Band-Support 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 sometimes in recent times that he did not acknowledge him with the beard in his mugshot. Earlier this yr, 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 acquire 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 information for Ross past the brand new kidnapping expenses. He went via two divorce circumstances, and he sued a girl over a 2019 automotive crash, however either side agreed to drop the case, court docket information present.

New York State Police acquire 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 packing containers 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 acquire 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 positioned 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 at risk. 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, in response to court docket 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 grievance 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 this moment 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 end result shouldn’t be what each household will get,” Charlotte’s household advised Fox Information Digital. “An enormous thanks to the FBI, the New York State Police, the entire companies that had been mobilized, the entire households, mates, neighborhood, neighbors and a whole lot of volunteers who supported us and labored tirelessly to carry 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 mother and father have taken day without work work to look after her and her two sisters.

Fox Information’ Ashley Papa contributed to this report.

Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox Information Digital. Story ideas might 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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