Kidnapping suspect charged with stealing other vehicles before car with infant twins
A Columbus woman accused of stealing a running car with twin infant boys during the week before Christmas is now facing charges alleging she stole two other vehicles earlier in December and crashed them.
Nalah T. Jackson, 24, could also potentially face charges related to a 2021 car theft on the Ohio State University campus, according to the Franklin County Prosecutor's office.
Jackson is currently facing two federal charges of kidnapping a minor after Columbus police say she stole a running 2010 Honda Dec. 19 from outside a Donatos Pizza in the Short North with then-5-month-old twins Ky'air and Kason Thomas inside as their mother ran inside the pizza shop to get a Door Dash order for delivery. Ky'air was recovered the following morning, found by a passerby left in a car seat with a blanket on in a parking lot of Dayton International Airport. Kason was recovered Dec. 22 in his mother's car in the parking lot of an Indianapolis pizza shop, hours after Jackson had been arrested by police there, thanks to the efforts of two women cousins who alerted them.
On Friday, a Franklin County grand jury indicted Jackson on two felony charges — theft and receiving stolen property — related to a Dec. 2 incident.
Jackson was allegedly driving a car stolen earlier that day in Columbus when she crashed it near the intersection of Bridge Street and Frantz Road in Dublin, according to G. W. Wharton, deputy chief counsel for the grand jury unit in the Franklin County Prosecutor's office.
"Somebody was getting out to help her, left her vehicle, then Ms. Jackson got into that good Samaritan's car and stole that," Wharton said.
Jackson only managed to drive a short distance before she crashed the second car, Wharton said.
The receiving stolen property charge is related to the first car and the theft charge is related to the second car.
Wharton said Jackson was injured, but he did not know to what extent. She was transported to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital and heavily sedated, meaning Dublin police could not question her at the time, Wharton said.
Because Jackson was hospitalized for her injuries, police did not arrest her and forwarded information to the county prosecutor's office for direct indictment, said Rebecca Myers, a spokeswoman for the City of Dublin.
The third alleged incident dates from November 2021, when Ohio State University police said Jackson was in a 2020 Honda CRV reported stolen from the university's campus. Wharton said that incident is still under review for possible presentation to a county grand jury.
University police charged Jackson in January 2022 in Franklin County Municipal Court with receiving stolen property. According to a signed statement submitted by a university police detective to the court, property inside the car yielded DNA evidence that matches Jackson, "a known offender."
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The case was dismissed in Municipal Court last week at the request of Franklin County prosecutors because Common Pleas courts handle felony cases like receiving stolen property charges.
Columbus police had filed kidnapping charges against Jackson in connection with the abduction of the twins and Jackson was ordered held on $1.5 million bond, but a police spokesman said those charges will likely be dismissed so the federal kidnapping case can proceed.
Jackson is scheduled to face a jury trial in federal court in Columbus on March 20. If convicted, she faces 20 years to life in prison on each of the two counts.
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Twins kidnapping suspect charged with previously stealing two vehicles
