A homeless woman accused of kidnapping twin Columbus infants who were in a car she stole in December 2022 entered a guilty plea Wednesday afternoon in federal court.
Nalah T. Jackson, 25, previously pleaded not guilty to two counts of kidnapping a minor in U.S. District Court in Columbus. On Wednesday afternoon, she changed her plea to guilty to those charges before federal Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Preston Deavers.
Jackson will be sentenced at a later date, but a plea agreement between Jackson’s attorneys and federal prosecutors will include a jointly recommended sentence of 20 years in prison.
On Dec. 19, 2022, Jackson stole a vehicle that was left idling outside a restaurant in Columbus’ Short North. In the backseat of the vehicle were Ky’Air and Kason Thomas, who were both 5 months old at the time, according to police. The twins’ mother was working as a food delivery driver and had gone into the restaurant to pick up an order, leaving the car running with the babies inside.