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Background: News footage of Tamara Hamby leaving jail with her husband, Jeffrey Hamby (KFSM). Insets (left, top to bottom): Tamara Hamby and Shannon Childers (Crawford County Detention Center). Insets (right, top to bottom): David Quach and Nico Austria (Crawford County Detention Center).
An Arkansas woman has been charged with orchestrating a fake kidnapping to prevent her disabled daughter from communicating with strangers online.
Tamara “Tammi” Hamby, 59, surrendered to authorities on Wednesday and was subsequently released from custody in Crawford County. She, along with three others, faces charges of endangering an incompetent person, and Tammi Hamby also faces a charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. According to a warrant reported by CBS affiliate KFSM, she allegedly staged the kidnapping to demonstrate the risks of interacting with strangers online to her 22-year-old daughter, who has a mental disability.
Jeffrey Hamby, Tammi’s husband and the father of the young woman, revealed to the station that their family had been targeted by an online scammer for several months. Their daughter had been led to believe she was communicating with country singer Luke Bryan. “We tried everything,” Jeffrey Hamby said, expressing his concern that the scammer planned to abduct their daughter. “He was going to take her.”
The arrest warrant details that Tammi Hamby allegedly enlisted Shannon Childers, a live-in certified nurse assistant caring for their daughter, to execute the plan. Childers purportedly involved two of her friends, David Quach and Nico Austria, in the scheme, which included a false promise of introducing the young woman to Luke Bryan.
Authorities stated that the plan was to have the daughter removed from their home and tied to a tree in a nearby field, with Tammi Hamby set to heroically rescue her.
The alleged plot was carried out on Nov. 17, when Quach and Austria showed up at the Hambys’ home wearing ski masks. As Jeffrey Hamby recounted to local ABC affiliate KHBS, both men told the daughter that they were sent by Luke Bryan to come get her, saying, “Luke sent us today. It’s now or never.” The daughter then “willingly” followed the men into their car “with her guitar and her teddy bear.”
According to the affidavit, Austria got lost while driving and brought the daughter to the wrong field. They followed through with their alleged plan to zip-tie the young woman to a tree and threaten to harm her. However, the daughter broke free and ran for help before Austria and Quach tackled her. They allegedly tied her to the tree again and left. Police said that Tammi Hamby was watching the whole thing unfold.
The daughter was able to free herself a second time and run to a nearby house to call 911.
A deputy with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office who interviewed the daughter said that she “was in fear for her life and clung tightly to a teddy bear the entirety of me speaking with her during her interview.”
Tammi Hamby, Childers, Quach, and Austria were all arrested and booked into jail. Tammi Hamby’s bond was set at $125,000, which she posted. Bond was set at $25,000 for the three other defendants.
Jeffrey Hamby was not charged and stated that he did not know about the alleged plot. The Hambys’ daughter was taken into custody by the Arkansas Department of Human Services after filing an emergency petition. Tammi Hamby is due in court again on Dec. 10.