Judge orders Delaware man, accused of kidnapping Wayne girl, to remain in jail
A judge ordered a Delaware man accused of kidnapping an 11-year-old Wayne girl he met through online gaming to remain detained following his initial appearance in Passaic County court Friday afternoon.
Darius Matylewich, 27, will stay in jail on charges of first-degree kidnapping and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, Judge Imre Karaszegi ruled. The judge cited the defendant's "initial obstructive behavior" when questioned about the girl's disappearance, along with his lack of ties to the community and risk of flight given the seriousness of the charges, in making his decision.
Matylewich was arrested Sept. 10 in Bear, Delaware, after Wayne Police responded to a report of a missing 11-year-old girl that day. An investigation determined Matylewich met the girl while playing video games online and brought her from Wayne to Bear without her parents' knowledge or consent, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office.
Jillian Elko, Matylewich's attorney, argued that there were "no allegations here of any nefarious intent by my client" in the alleged kidnapping. The girl had reported abuse by her mother that led to her hospitalization, Elko stated, and she begged Matylewich to pick her up from "an unhealthy and unstable living situation."
Elko also said Matylewich repeatedly discouraged her from running away and, after picking her up, asked her several times if she wanted to go back.
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But Passaic County assistant prosecutor Jessica Petrella argued that the relationship between the girl and Matylewich, a man more than twice her age, was inappropriate. If Matylewich was concerned for the girl's safety, she said, he had other options besides taking her back to his home.
"His responsibility as an adult is to understand that you don't take matters into your own hands and take a child across state lines," Petrella said. "You encourage that child to reach out to someone that they trust, or when he picked her up, he could have taken her to the Wayne Police Department. There was no intention to give law enforcement notice of the fact that he had this child."
Karaszegi noted that Matylewich was "evasive" when asked if the girl was with him prior to his arrest and initially answered "in the negative." Following his arrest, the judge said, Matylewich told a police officer that he "thought I could do this on my own."
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The girl left the hotel where she lived with her mother and brother around 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 10, Petrella said during the hearing. Her brother originally thought she was leaving for school before realizing it was a Sunday, at which point he called his mother, who was working overnight.
The mother returned home and called the Wayne Police Department, Petrella said. She told authorities she had filed a missing person's report for her daughter in June, but the girl returned 90 minutes later and said she had met up with a man named Darius she talked to on the online game platform Roblox.
The girl was grounded after the incident, but her mother believed she may have continued to communicate with the man via other family members' phones, Petrella said.
On the morning of the girl's disappearance, Wayne Police officers used database technology to determine Matylewich's last name and mobile phone number.
When contacted, Matylewich initially denied knowing the girl's whereabouts but ultimately admitted to picking her up and driving her back to his home. He then provided his address, where local police officers arrived at 9:25 a.m. the same day.
Matylewich faces up 10 to 30 years in prison if convicted of kidnapping. The child endangerment charge carries an additional sentence of three to five years.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Delaware man accused of kidnapping Wayne NJ girl to remain in jail
