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LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK - A homeless man was arrested on kidnapping charges after he allegedly led a 4-year-old boy away from a prayer service at a Long Island mosque and barricaded the two of them in the basement, Suffolk County police said Thursday.
At around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, a worshiper at Masjid Darul Quran of Bay Shore noticed Nelson Priester leading the boy away from the prayer hall and alerted the child’s grandfather, the Suffolk County Police Department said in a statement.
By then Priester, 39, had made it to a basement kitchen and barricaded the door.
“Multiple people then attempted to gain entry to the kitchen through the door but were unable,” police said. “One person then climbed through a service window into the kitchen to reach the child, who was not injured.”
Police charged Priester, who had no known address, with second-degree attempted kidnapping and with endangering the welfare of a child. Authorities did not speculate on a motive. Priester was scheduled to appear Thursday at First District Court in Central Islip.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/08/21/ ... idnapping/