Three Orange County residents charged in connection with the alleged abduction of a patient from a Novato health care facility pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
Michael Roberts, 49, of Capo Beach; Laura Boyle, 61, of Mission Viejo, and Paula Burkes, 57, of Mission Viejo are accused of kidnapping the man for financial gain.
They have been charged by the Marin County District Attorney’s Office with kidnapping, burglary, conspiracy, and false imprisonment. Each defendant has a separate attorney.
The allegations center on what occurred at the facility on Saturday morning.
Witnesses said they saw three people remove the 60-year-old patient and assault a nurse who tried to stop them, police said. Authorities said that the patient was under a court-ordered conservatorship. None of the suspects are conservators, according to authorities. Police have declined to identify the facility.
A Marin County sheriff’s deputy detained the suspects during a traffic stop near the Spencer Avenue exit on Highway 101 in southern Marin. The patient was returned to the facility.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the defense revealed that the patient was a relative of two suspects.
Marin Superior Court Judge Kelly Simmons ordered the suspects’ release from the Marin County Jail on the conditions they wear GPS monitors, have no contact with the patient and stay away from the facility in which he is staying.
Prosecutor Rachel Minarovich challenged the defense’s request to release Boyle. She alleged that the defendant organized the abduction.
Simmons warned Boyle and Burkes about the consequences of tampering with the GPS monitors. “I’ll be swift to move you both back into custody,” she said.
Boyle’s attorney, Matthew Siroka, said that the case has a “complicated backstory.” He said he was pleased that Simmons granted his request to have his client released from custody.
Minarovich, defense attorney Kevin Heaney and public defender Hayden Brown declined to comment. The defendants’ next court appearance is scheduled for March 27.
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- Three people accused of kidnapping patient from Bay Area hospital plead not guilty – The Mercury News
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