SDNY COURTHOUSE, August 26 – While many even most cases in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are sealed or have case numbers given only later, on August 8, an alleged kidnapper was presented with a casenumber but a lot of doubts about both his and the government's stories.
Jonathan Cummings is charged with kidnapping a women and two children at gunpoint and driving them to New Jersey, ultimately dropping or dumping them at a mall in Edison, New Jersey. Cummings' Federal Defender said the complainant is a fraudster who might be trying to extort Cummings, who he said he planning to enrolling in Dutchess Community College before the next semester. The government noted it's almost back to school time and he has not enrolled. Ultimately, he was not released, unlike at least one of two Arizona-based meth defendants.
But on August 22 by Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein, a bail package was signed off on: $100,000 with two co-signers, not to confer with co-conspirator or victims, home detention with electronic monitoring. We'll have more on this.
