Arrest Made In Knife-Point Kidnapping Of Child: Police

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — An arrest was made in a reported kidnapping of a child at knife point in the town of Poughkeepsie.

The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department said officers were sent, shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, to a home on Dutchess Turnpike in Arlington for a report of someone taking a 4-year-old child at knife point from the location.

After arriving at the scene, police said they found that someone stole a white BMW sedan from the property and fled with the child.

Police said the man was the non-custodial father of the child.

Information about the incident was broadcast to all Dutchess County police agencies, including the county sheriff’s office and the Connecticut State Police.

Around 9:10 a.m., a village of Millbrook police unit said they spotted the BMW on Route 343.

State police and county sheriff’s deputies responded to assist Millbrook police in stopping the car.

Authorities said the car was stopped, and a man was taken into custody. The child was recovered by officers and was unharmed.

Isaiah C. Stratford Sr., 27, of Poughkeepsie, was arrested and charged with second-degree kidnapping, a felony, and second-degree menacing, criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors.

He is being held pending arraignment in the Town of Poughkeepsie Justice Court.

The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department was assisted by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Village of Millbrook Police Department, the FBI and several other police agencies in Dutchess and surrounding counties.