VAN BUREN -- Four people have pleaded not guilty to charges they coordinated and conducted the kidnapping of a young woman with developmental disabilities, leaving her tied to a tree in a rural field.

One of those charged in the incident is the mother of the 22-year-old woman who authorities claim was kidnapped. The four suspects face identical criminal counts in the case, according to Crawford County Circuit Court records.

An arrest affidavit states the Nov. 17 incident was "a scare tactic" to teach the woman the dangers of talking to strangers online.

Tamara J. "Tammi" Hamby, 59, of North Rudy Road in Rudy is charged with conspiring to kidnapping, first-degree false imprisonment, abuse of an endangered or impaired person, third-degree battery and second-degree terroristic threatening,

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