RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – A violent criminal described as a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang goes on trial Monday in North Carolina on a federal kidnapping charge after authorities say he helped orchestrate the abduction of a prosecutor’s father from his prison cell.
Kelvin Melton, 51, was already serving a life sentence for ordering underlings to shoot a Raleigh man in 2011 at the time the prosecutor’s father was abducted two years ago. Melton also faces conspiracy and other charges during the trial in Raleigh.
Authorities say Melton used a smuggled cellphone to target the Wake County prosecutor who put him away for the Raleigh shooting. But Melton’s crew botched the plan by going to the wrong address and instead snatched the prosecutor’s father.
Frank Janssen was rescued after the FBI tracked cellphone traffic to Melton’s prison cell and authorities stormed an Atlanta apartment where Janssen was held, according to court records. Janssen’s captors were apparently finalizing details to kill him and dispose of his body.
“The plan was to kill the victim. The government’s evidence includes statements from cooperating defendants and electronic surveillance,” a federal judge wrote in May 2014 when ordering Melton be held in federal prison until trial instead of state lockup.