Three indicted in kidnapping of two Greece children

Greece, N.Y. — A third person is facing charges in connection with the abduction of two Greece children in January.

Dimitri Cash, Kimara Pluviose and a newly-named suspect, Joenathan Cash, have been charged in a 19-count indictment in connection with the case. The three were arraigned Monday morning.

Dimitri Cash was indicted on kidnapping in the first degree and other charges. Pluviose and Joenathan Cash were indicted on kidnapping in the second degree, as well as other charges.

“Dimitri was the one that organized this thing. Joenathan and Kimara were the ones that executed it at that residence. They’re the ones who went into that house and took those children,” said Greece Police Chief drew Forsythe.

Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley says all the suspects are also facing charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Three-year-old Shekeria Cash and five-year-old Dimitri Cash, Jr. were forcibly abducted from their foster home on Jan. 18. The children were found two days later, unharmed, in Alabama.

Dimitri Cash, the father of the two children, was arrested for robbery, kidnapping and burglary in connection with the case. Kimara Pluviose was also arrested in connection with the kidnapping.

Joenathan Cash, police said, was arrested last week.

13WHAM has previously reported on a three-year custody battle involving Dimitri Cash, and that he previously lost custody his children because of alleged neglect.

Greece Police allege Joenathan Cash and Pluviose executed the kidnapping, while Dimitri Cash organized the abduction. They say Pluviose is Dimitri Cash’s girlfriend, and Joenathan Cash is his cousin.

The indictment alleges the suspects rented a home in Alabama, but Chief Forsythe says it’s not clear at this point why that location was chosen. He says it did not appear the suspects intended to leave the country.

According to the indictment, Dimitri Cash first sought out information about the location of the foster home in the days after Christmas. Two weeks later, he and Pluviose rented the house.

It’s alleged on the morning of the abduction, Pluviose rented a vehicle, picked up Joenathan Cash and the two broke through a window to gain access to the children. A foster mother living there was restrained with duct tape, beaten and thrown down the stairs. There were seven children in the home at the time.

Chief Forsythe said the children’s father sent two people his terrified children did not know to abduct them.

“They didn’t know who they were. They were in their pajamas, sleeping, ripped out and thrown in a van,” he said.

While not in the house at the time of the abduction, Dimitri Cash is alleged to have communicated with his cousin moments before – a key element in the case.

“He can be charged with the planning of the kidnapping. He didn’t necessarily have to be there,” said Doorley.

Forsythe said the Greece Police Department has been working extensively with outside agencies, including the U.S. Marshals, over the past several weeks to secure the arrests in the case.

“I can’t underscore enough that these federal agencies – and I’ve said it so many times before – the assistance they provided, from the U.S. Marshals, the FBI, we’re talking six weeks of them detailing members of their agencies to the Greece Police Department, working around the clock,” he said during a news briefing Tuesday.

“When I tell you, every day for the past six weeks, we had members from those agencies in our office on a daily basis,” he added. “That’s what led to this arrest.”

On an online petition, Dimitri Cash has argued that his children were taken from him due to false allegations. On a GoFundMe page, without presenting evidence, he alleged his children were being mistreated. Prosecutors disputed any notion of poor treatment at the children’s foster home during Tuesday’s news briefing.

“In this case, any type of foster family, any allegations of abuse and neglect, anything like that, I can assure you, are vetted thoroughly by Child Protective Services,” said Assistant District Attorney Sara VanStrydonck. “Especially in the case of a foster family. there’s many checks or balances that have to be weighed in those cases. Any complaints, any calls to the child abuse hotline are investigated. I can say they are investigated thoroughly, and this certainly wouldn’t be a situation where this family would be allowed to not only foster seven children from different families who suffer from different levels of trauma in their past, not only that, but be able to adopt them. I think that maybe the community and social media should think about that before they go and share these things about these people who selflessly and tirelessly devote their time to other people’s children who have now become their own, and they are their family.”

All three suspects remain in jail at this time. They are due back in court next month.