Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty To Kidnapping Ex-Girlfriend’s Daughter

Saturday, June 7, 2025, 6:45 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- On Thursday, a 50-year-old Brooklyn, New York, man will be facing up to life in federal prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping his ex-girlfriend’s daughter from her home in Reading, Pennsylvania, and traveling across state lines in an attempt to engage in illicit sexual conduct. 

     According to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf, on Thursday, June 5, 2025, Duane Taylor, 50, of Brooklyn, New York, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gallagher to all counts in a January 2023, indictment charging Kidnapping; Travel with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct; Production of Child Pornography; Possession of Child Pornography; and Transportation of Child Pornography.

     Following entering his guilty plea on Thursday, Judge Gallagher accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for September 18, 2025. At that time, Taylor faces up to life in federal prison. At sentencing, a U.S. District Court Judge will determine the term of imprisonment based on the seriousness of the offenses and Taylor’s prior criminal history.

According To Charging Documents Filed With The Court

     According to the charging information unsealed in the January 2023 federal indictment, on the morning of August 31, 2022, members of the Reading Police Department responded to a Reading residence after the child’s mother reported her missing from her bedroom, where she was last seen around 10:30 p.m., the night before as girl was going to bed. After searching for the child, her mother reported to Responding Police Officers that the back door of their home was wide open and the chain lock had been broken.

     Investigators reviewed video surveillance footage from the home’s security system, which revealed a person entering the living room area around 2:00 a.m. and proceeding up the stairs to the second floor. A short time later, the child victim was seen walking down those stairs and through the living room, followed by the person, later identified as Taylor, whom the child’s mother told Investigators was her former boyfriend.

     Investigators from the Reading Police Department contacted the New York City Police Department, who traced Taylor to his residence in Brooklyn, New York, but were unable to locate the girl there. The child was located later that day when a concerned citizen called 911 to report a child walking alone and asking for help because she had been kidnapped from her Pennsylvania home. 

     Taylor was later taken into custody and formally charged with the horrific crimes.