4 indicted in kidnapping, extortion plot

Four Greater Boston residents were indicted yesterday on attempted murder and other charges in connection with a "multifaceted extortion plot" against an Allston man earlier this summer, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Joseph Caldwell, 25, of Mattapan; Domonic Campbell, 20, of Cambridge; Tyon Feaster, 24, of Cambridge; and Jillian Jacques, 23, of Allston were charged with aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping with intent to commit extortion, attempt to murder, and arson, according to a statement issued by Conley's office yesterday.

On June 1, a 24-year-old Allston man, whose name was not released, was held captive at gunpoint after Jacques lured him into her apartment on Glenville Avenue in Allston, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Conley. Once inside, the man was beaten, threatened, and robbed by three men who took his cellphone, he said.

The four defendants then held the man for ransom and instructed his relatives to give $5,000 to two women at the Dudley Square MBTA Station, Wark said. The victim's family raised $4,280 and contacted Boston police, who arrested the two women at the T station, he said.

Charges against the women, Cheerley Chevalier, 30, of Taunton and Farrah Girault, 29, of Roxbury, were dropped in Brighton Municipal Court because the women were unaware of their roles in the plot, according to the district attorney's office.

The victim had sold small amounts of marijuana to Jacques in the past, and the four believed he could produce larger quantities, Wark said.

When the victim said he was unable to deliver the drugs, the three men beat him and demanded money, the district attorney's office said. The men also threatened to cut off his fingers, mutilate his genitals, and kill him, according to Conley's office.

After the victim said he could raise only $1,000, the four called the victim's brother and threatened to shoot him in the head if the family did not deliver the ransom money, Wark said.

Boston firefighters were called to Jacques's apartment, where they found the victim tied to a chair with electrical cords and suffering from serious facial injuries, Wark said. He was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for treatment, he said.

The four defendants are being held on bails ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 and are scheduled to appear in Brighton Municipal Court on Sept. 26.