COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) — One of four co-defendants in a child sex abuse conspiracy ring got more two more prison sentences on Monday in Branch County Circuit Court after entering guilty pleas to the charges in November.
33-year-old Matthew Toole of Battle Creek was given a sentence of 85 months to 50 years for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and a concurrent sentence of 25 to 50 years for conspiracy to commit first-degree criminal sexual conduct on a child under the age of 13.
The Branch County sentences will be served concurrently to 50 to 140 year sentences Toole received in Calhoun County after pleading no contest to charges of child porn.
In 2018 Michigan State Police began investigating Toole, Jayme LaPointe, Talia Furman and David Bailey for child pornography.
The other three entered no contest pleas to child porn charges in Calhoun County, but also faced conspiracy charges in Branch County in connection with a plot to lure a 12-year-old out of a county fair, take the child north, rape and then kill the child.
LaPointe pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 to 50 years for the Branch County case on Sept. 23, 2019.
Bailey and Furman pleaded guilty in June 2019 and were sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison for the Branch County case in August.
