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Ribble Guilty of Kidnapping Woman, Infant
Rochester, N.Y. – Billie Jo Ribble, 36, of Bath, N.Y., pleaded guilty to kidnapping a mother and her six-month-old child and transporting them from Pennsylvania to New York. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in prison, a maximum of life, a fine of $250,000 or both.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, the defendant abducted a mother and her six-month-old child in Pennsylvania on March 1, 2013. At that time, Ribble was wanted by the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office on charges of Burglary in the First Degree and Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, in relation to a residential burglary that occurred in October 2012.
Ribble was located and arrested in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, after investigators from the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office and Pennsylvania State Police received a tip. She was taken to the hospital in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, for treatment in the maternity ward, but became violent and escaped by climbing out a window.
Later on March 1, a woman and her six-month-old daughter were asleep in the basement bedroom of a residence in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. At 11:30 p.m., the woman was awakened by Ribble, who was standing over her daughter’s crib holding a large butcher’s knife. The defendant threatened to kill the woman and her child, and herself, if the woman did not take Ribble where she wanted to go.
The woman, with Ribble holding the six-month-old child and a butcher’s knife, drove to New York, where Ribble was dropped off. The woman then drove to a gas station in Pennsylvania and called the police. Ribble was eventually located at her boyfriend’s residence in Corning, N.Y., where she initially barricaded herself in the attic but eventually surrendered to authorities without incident.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Wellsboro (Pennsylvania) Police Department. Sentencing is scheduled for June 25, 2014, at 11:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer.
RELATED: Texas Road Trip Turns Into Nightmare: Man Indicted in Kidnapping
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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