Court document details abduction case involving 3 children

A federal criminal complaint released Wednesday details the events that allegedly resulted in the kidnapping of three small children (2, 1 and 2 ½ months) and the arrest of three Wiregrass residents on kidnapping, assault and carjacking charges.

Melissa Mione McGee, Westly Rogers and Joshua Gilley all face state and federal charges related to what investigators claim was a bizarre scheme to lure a family to a secluded area in order to kidnap the children.

The three are scheduled for a first appearance in federal court Wednesday at 4 p.m.

According to the complaint, the contact between the suspects and victims began in April when a man known as “Nate” made contact with the children’s mother’s boyfriend through a social networking site known as mocospace.com. At the time, the boyfriend, mother and children all lived in Blount County and were apparently facing economic problems. The complaint alleges “Nate” told the boyfriend he could help them find employment.

The complaint did not release the names of the mother, boyfriend or children.

On May 21, the complaint states “Nate” introduced the boyfriend to a woman referred to as “Jewels” during a telephone conversation. “Jewels” was later identified as Melissa Mione McGee. “Jewels” claimed to be a human resources representative from Memphis and promised the boyfriend a job and a place to live in or near Ozark.

The complaint states the family moved to Ozark and stayed at the Ozark Inn where they were visited by McGee, who provided the family with small amounts of money and promised them a job at a metal fabricating business at $17 per hour.

Sunday, the boyfriend, mother and her three children drove to a rural location near Brundidge for the purpose of meeting with McGee, who had promised the family a mobile home to live in.

McGee introduced the mother to “Nate” and another man known as “Mike”. Almost immediately, the complaint states the two men attacked the boyfriend and mother, tossed them from their vehicle and left with the three children still in the back seat.

The story becomes even more bizarre.

Investigators learned a Wiregrass man had taken custody of the two oldest children from another person and had been paid $100 to take the children to a hospital. The man told investigators he was afraid to take the children to the hospital, so he placed the children in the back yard of a “familiar residence” in Black, which is in Geneva County. The people living there later noticed the two children “wandering alone in the yard” and took them to a hospital in DeFuniak Springs, Fla.

McGee was later located by investigators and admitted to participating in the kidnapping, according to the complaint. She identified “Mike” as Westly Rogers and “Nate” as Joshua Gilley. The complaint states Rogers confessed and said the plot was conceived by McGee, who wanted to take the children because she claimed they were being abused and wanted to deliver at least one of them to its biological father in Slocomb.

The youngest child was located at the residence of an acquaintance of McGee in Dothan, who told investigators that McGee had dropped the child off earlier to be babysat, and claimed the baby was McGee’s.