Duane Taylor, Kidnapping, Pennsylvania 2022

A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a minor child from Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 2022.

Duane Taylor, 50, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced by United States District Judge John M. Gallagher for the abduction of a minor child from her home in Reading, Pennsylvania, and transportation of that child across state lines to Taylor’s residence.

Taylor was also ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution and $3,500 in fees and assessments.

In January 2023, Taylor was charged by superseding indictment with kidnapping, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and transportation of child pornography.

He pleaded guilty to all counts in June of this year.

According to court filings, on the morning of August 31, 2022, City of Reading police officers responded to the victim’s home when the child’s mother reported her missing from her bedroom, where she had last seen her daughter around 10:30 p.m. the evening prior before going to bed.

A short time later, the victim is seen walking down those stairs and through the living room, followed by the person who was later identified as the defendant, whom the victim’s mother also stated was her former boyfriend.

Reading investigators contacted the New York City Police Department, who traced the defendant to his residence in Brooklyn, but did not locate the victim there.

The victim was located later that day when a citizen called 911 to report a child alone and asking for help because she had been kidnapped from Pennsylvania.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the federal government.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Reading Police Department, and the New York City Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rosalynda M. Michetti and Josh A. Davison.