APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A 51-year-old man has been charged with carjacking and kidnapping a woman and her child outside the Fox River Mall.
Jay L. Scott faces six counts: armed carjacking, kidnapping, forceful abduction of a child, armed robbery, felony bail jumping and theft of movable property.
He appeared in court Thursday, where a $500,000 cash bond was set.
According to the criminal complaint, the 31-year-old victim told police she was shopping at the mall on Monday with her 4-year-old child. When she came back to her car, she said a man came up to her on a bicycle and pulled out a three-to-four-inch-long knife.
The complaint says:
VICTIM 1 indicated that the man said, ‘I’m not going to hurt you, just get in the car.’, and that she asked him, ‘Do you just want money?’ To which he responded ‘yes’. VICTIM 1 stated the man got in the driver’s seat and started to drive her car away. VICTIM stated that he originally took her purse, which was a small black purse. She said that she told him that her money was in the trunk, but that he told her she was lying.
The victim told police that the man drove to a nearby bank. She told him that she could not get money from that bank, because she banks at a different bank. He then drove to a Neenah branch of her bank, but they were unable to use the ATM because he parked too close.
He then drove off, and when he stopped for the red light, the victim and her child were able to get out of the car and flag down another driver for help.
The victim gave police a description of her car and license plate number, and officers put out a bulletin for the car. A police officer in Omro spotted the car and followed it, eventually pulling it over in the town of Rushford. The driver, Scott, was arrested.
If convicted, Scott faces up to 189 1/2 years in prison.
