Kingston Kidnapper Pleads Guilty

A Kingston man pleaded guilty to kidnapping. Officials say he threatened to hurt three young children in a hotel room.

On Friday, Rebbeca Rojer, the executive assistant to Ulster County District Attorney David Clegg, confirmed that 29-year-old Scipio Dubois of Kingston, New York, pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the second degree.

Dubois confessed he agreed to watch his friend’s three children, aged four, two, and one, at the Rodeway Inn Skytop Hotel on March 4, 2022. Rodeway Inn Skytop is located at 239 Forest Hill Drive in the Town of Ulster, according to Google.

While watching the children, Dubois, who had a parole warrant for absconding from parole, became paranoid that law enforcement was aware that he was at the hotel, officials say.

He then called 911 to report that he had hostages and wanted to negotiate under the delusion that law enforcement sent the manager to knock on the door to lure the children out of the hotel to arrest him on the warrant, according to the Ulster County District Attorney's office.

Trained negotiators from New York State Police contacted Dubois by cell phone and attempted to convince him to release the children, which he refused. During the five-hour negotiation, he repeatedly threatened to hurt the children, officials say.

After negotiators lost contact with him, the NYSP Sort Team made forced entry into the hotel room and rescued the children. Dubois was taken into custody and arrested for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, felonies, endangering the welfare of a child, and menacing, misdemeanors.

Special Victims Unit Chief Elizabeth Culmone-Mills praised the New York State Police, whose “swift and expert response not only ensured the safety of the children but enabled our office to successfully expedite this prosecution.”

Sentencing is scheduled for September 29, 2022.