CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS, 32, of Aloha, Oregon pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to Conspiracy to Commit Kidnaping in the August 2004 attempted kidnaping of a Vancouver, Washington child. Under the terms of the plea agreement, MATTHEWS could get as much as sixteen years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Franklin D. Burgess on October 21, 2005.

According to court documents, MATTHEWS and KAYSE DAY, 20, of Beaverton, Oregon hatched a plan to kidnap the minor child of a former co-worker of DAY's at a Portland financial services firm. The pair secretly took the co-worker's house key and had a duplicate made. They rented a hotel room in Portland and bought cereal and orange juice to feed the child while they held him hostage. The night of August 17, 2004, DAY and MATTHEWS – dressed in black and equipped with duct tape to restrain the child – drove from Oregon to the victim's home in Vancouver, Washington. They drafted a ransom note demanding $250,000. In the early morning hours of August 18th, DAY and MATTHEWS left their van running while they secretly entered the victim's home. Fortunately, an alert neighbor who works the night shift saw the two skulking near the victim's home and called police. DAY and MATTHEWS were arrested after police found them inside the home.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Clark County Sheriff's Department.

Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Dion and Tessa Gorman are prosecuting the case. For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington at (206) 553-4110.

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