BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Four people in Michigan have been charged with a plan to kidnap, rape and kill a child.

Michigan State Police said Friday they found evidence of the plan to find a child at a local fair or in a Walmart or Meijer store parking lot. According to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, the group intended to torture and sexually assault the child until he died and get rid of the body.

Schutte's office accused the four men of conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree criminal sexual behavior.

The suspects are Matthew Toole, 32, of Battle Creek and his girlfriend, Talia Furman, 32, of Springfield, Jayme LaPointe, 19, of Athens and David Bailey, 37, of Coldwater. Bailey is formerly of Kalamazoo.

All four are in custody, said the Detective Sergeant. Gerald Yott of the Computer Crime Unit of the Michigan State Police.

The charges stem from evidence gathered by state police at the conclusion of an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and pornographic material making by the four suspects.

"They committed acts on their own children and made sexual content," Yott said Friday afternoon. "They shared and exploited all their own children and other children."

Toole and Furman are waiting for preliminary examinations at the Calhoun County District Court on abuse and sexual assault as part of the initial investigation. LaPointe is held in Branch County on similar charges.

Bailey was arrested on Friday, Yott said, and will be sent back to Branch County.

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Yott said that when investigators gathered evidence, they discovered that the four were discussing with text messages and were discussing a plan to rape and kill a child after a kidnapping at a county fair, a parking lot or a parking lot. parade.

Yott said that they had been discussing how to kidnap a child without a camera and get rid of the body and destroy the evidence.

"It was something they had talked about and they had met in person to formulate their plan," Yott said.

"To our knowledge, they did not execute their plan and there were no child victims," ​​he said.

The conversations started last fall and continued until this summer, he said.

He said the group had been meeting locally through free associations and similar sexual tendencies, including three-way relationships.

The new charges all carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment.

Follow Trace Christenson on Twitter: @Tchristenson

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