Four people have been arrested in Missouri after allegedly staging the kidnapping of a 6-year-old boy to scare him into staying away from strangers, the Guardian reported on Friday.
The boy's aunt, mother, and grandmother reportedly cooked up the plan to scare the boy whom they thought was "too nice" to strangers.
His aunt, Denise Kroutil, 38, reportedly approached 23-year-old Nathan Wynn Firoved at a gas station and asked him to help her put the family's plan into action. Conflicting reports have emerged about Firoved's relationship to the family, with some calling him a family friend and others saying he was a complete stranger.
Authorities say Firoved waited outside the boy's school on Feb. 2 where he then lured him into his pickup truck. He then began threatening him, saying that he would never "see his mommy again" and that he would be "nailed to the wall of a shed," according to the Guardian.
The boy began crying, at which point Firoved pulled out a handgun to quiet him, the St. Louis Dispatch reported. Firoved also tied him up with plastic bags and covered his face with a jacket so that he couldn't resist or see where they were going.
Firoved drove around for a while before taking the boy back to his own house and bringing him down to the basement, where his aunt pulled down his pants and told him he would be "sold into sex slavery," according to the Washington Post. When the boy appeared unfazed, his aunt got frustrated and left him in the basement alone for a few hours, tied up and blindfolded.
The whole ordeal lasted around four hours. Then, the family went back down the basement and explained why they'd done what they'd done.
When the boy went back to school the next day, he recounted the incident to school officials, who later reported it to Lincoln County police.
All four adults are being charged with felony kidnapping and abuse or neglect of a child and are currently being held in Lincoln County jail on a $250,000 bail. The boy is in protective custody.
"Family members told investigators their primary intent was to educate the victim," the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "They felt they did nothing wrong."