Two ordered to stand trial in Pittsburgh kidnap plot
Two men accused of duping Pittsburgh police out of $10,000 and a pricey GPS tracking device in a kidnapping hoax will stand trial on theft and conspiracy charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Police say they are trying to find the missing money and the failed tracker, which a detective disclosed yesterday was worth nearly $8,000.
"The money has not been recovered, and the investigation is ongoing," said Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant.
Dominic "Big Boy" Fields, 23, of Wexford is free on $10,000 bond, and Anthony "Tooth" Hines, 25, of Homewood remains in the Allegheny County Jail, unable to post $50,000 bond.
"My client has denied any and all participation in this event and doesn't know where the money or the tracking device are," said Hines' attorney, Jeffrey Wasak.
During a hearing in Pittsburgh Municipal Court, Wasak asked for a bond reduction for Hines, which District Judge Kevin Cooper denied.
"The city lost $10,000, and a tracking device was disposed of in the effort to get mr. Fields back," Cooper said. "You're lucky I don't increase (the bond)."
The incident began March 14 when, according to testimony from David Fields Sr., he received a call at 10 a.m. from his son's cell phone. a man on the other end said: "We have your son. we want $50,000, or we're going to kill him."
Fields went to police about two hours later. He estimated he received at least 60 phone calls during the day from the first man and then an "older sounding" man. He told Cooper he eventually recognized the first voice as belonging to his son's friend, Hines.
Police mobilized a SWAT team, asked for assistance from the FBI and state police, and arranged to place $10,000 of city money and the tracking device -- which Detective Vonzale Boose said is worth $7,995 -- inside a computer bag.
David Fields delivered the bag outside a Homewood record store, as the kidnappers instructed, and went to a nearby Giant Eagle, he testified.
Someone took the bag and left before SWAT could surround them. Someone later called David Fields, asking why there was only $10,000 in the bag and "what is this radio?"
"I told them it was my kid's toy," David Fields testified.
Officers used a device that records numbers dialed on a phone to locate Hines' apartment on Kelly Street, according to a criminal complaint. they found the computer bag but the cash and the tracking device, which apparently quit working, were gone.
Dominic Fields later admitted to police that he, Hines and another friend made up the phony kidnapping story because he needed money, police said.
"He said, 'I'm pretty much in trouble, right?' " Boose said. "I told him he could make it better by bringing back the money."
Relatives of both men declined to comment yesterday. Police said they are looking for a third man, known as "Tone."
