Sheriff: Boy 'kidnapped' to teach him a lesson

Four people have been charged in a "kidnapping" in Troy, Mo., that authorities say was staged to teach a 6-year-old boy a lesson about stranger danger.

According to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, Nathan Wynn Firoved, 23, of Troy was asked by the boy's aunt, Denise Kroutil, 38, of Troy, with whom he worked, to kidnap the boy and "scare" him because he was "too nice" to people.

Firoved lured the boy into a pickup truck while he was walking home from school Monday, the Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Once in the truck, Firoved told the boy he would never "see his mommy again," and he would be "nailed to the wall of a shed."

When the child started to cry, Firoved showed him a gun and threatened to hurt him if he did not stop, the statement said. Firoved bound the boy's hands and feet, covered his face with a jacket and drove him around for a while.

While the boy's face was still covered, he was unknowingly taken to the basement of his home, where a family member removed his pants and told him he could be sold into "sex slavery," the Sheriff's Office said.

"The victim remained in the basement for some time before he was unbound and told to go upstairs, where the victim's family lectured him about Stranger Danger," the statement said.

During the entire event, family members and Firoved remained in contact via cellphone as they terrorized the victim.

The boy later told school officials about the incident, and they reported it to the Division of Family Services. The child has been placed into protective custody.

Firoved, Kroutil and Rose Brewer, 58, the boy's grandmother, were charged with felony kidnapping, felonious restraint, and felony abuse and neglect of a child, the Sheriff's Office said. The victim's mother, Elizabeth Hupp, 25, of Troy was charged with felony kidnapping and felony abuse and neglect of a child. The four are being held at the Lincoln County Jail on $250,000 bond.

Family told investigators they were trying to teach the boy a lesson and felt they did nothing wrong.