Senate passes new child kidnapping provision

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A bill prompted by a prosecutor's frustration in a child abduction case moved closer Wednesday to final passage. The legislation creates the crime of "child kidnapping," which would apply in cases where a child under 14 is taken without a parent's consent. The charge could not be filed if the abductor and child were related within the third degree -- as a noncustodial parent, for example. First introduced in the House, the legislation was amended and approved Wednesday in the Senate. The two chambers must now work out any differences. The bill grew out of the Feb. 11 abduction of 1-month-old Jesse Peaster from his parents' home near Cole Camp, in west-central Missouri. The infant was found unharmed in Kansas City later that day.

Authorities arrested a woman who Jesse's parents said had posed as a nurse in the Kansas City hospital where he was born and later visited their home.

Benton County prosecutor Karen Woodley charged the woman with felonious restraint and felony burglary -- but not kidnapping, because Missouri's existing law requires that there be an intent to harm the victim or seek ransom.

The Senate amended the bill to create the crime of human trafficking and establish penalties for such offenses as slave labor or importing a child to participate in pornography. International matchmaking organizations also would be regulated under the amendment.

Senators also added a section doubling the statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual abuse of a child to 10 years, said Sen. Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, who sponsored the amendment.

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Kidnapping bill is HB1487.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us