Sept. 19, 2006, 6:35PM
Sheriff: Race a factor in kidnap case


By KATHARINE WEBSTER Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

SALEM, N.H. — A Maine couple accused of tying up their 19-year-old daughter, throwing her in their car and driving her out of state to get an abortion were upset because the baby's father is black, a Maine sheriff said Tuesday.

Katelyn Kampf, who is white, told Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion that her mother "was pretty irate at the fact that the child's father was black, and she had made a number of disparaging remarks about that," he said.

Katelyn Kampf escaped Friday at a Salem shopping center and called police, who arrested her parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola, 53, both real estate developers from North Yarmouth, Maine.

The Kampfs were apparently taking their daughter to New York to try to force her to get an abortion there, police said.

The parents were arraigned Monday on kidnapping charges. The judge set bail at $100,000 each and ordered the Kampfs to have no contact with their daughter. They posted bail Tuesday afternoon.

If convicted of kidnapping, the Kampfs face 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison. Dion said he expects to bring charges in Maine also, after investigators consult with the district attorney Wednesday.

Defense attorney Mark Sisti said Tuesday that a sworn statement by Salem police who interviewed both Katelyn Kampf and her parents said nothing about the father's race.

"This whole race-card thing is ridiculous and objectionable," said Sisti, who represented both of the Kampfs for their arraignment Monday, but is now representing only Lola Kampf. "There wasn't any mention in the sworn affidavit to the court about race being a factor in any way, shape or form."

Sisti also maintained there was no evidence a kidnapping had taken place in New Hampshire. The sworn affidavit said Katelyn described talking cordially with her parents during the trip from Maine.

But Salem Police prosecutor Ryan McFarland said in court Monday the Kampfs had their passports, rope, a rifle and ammunition in the car. He argued they posed a danger if released and could flee the country.

Dion said Katelyn Kampf told him her parents got upset when she called them Thursday night and told them she was pregnant. The Kampfs had met her boyfriend before and been friendly, but the pregnancy apparently "changed the dynamic," he said.

Katelyn Kampf said her mother "kept referring to the baby as a thing, as 'It,' and there were other comments made," he said.

They invited Katelyn, who is living in Portland with her boyfriend's mother, Peggy Johnson, to come to their house Friday morning. Dion would not say whether the Kampfs were already prepared to abduct their daughter when she arrived.

In a court affidavit, Salem Police Officer Sean Marino wrote that Katelyn told him her parents "chased her out into the yard, grabbed and tied her hands and feet together." Her father carried her to the car and they headed to New Hampshire, he wrote.

Katelyn Kampf escaped from her parents in Salem after persuading them to untie her so she could use a Kmart bathroom, police said. After her father went into the men's room, she ran to a nearby Staples store and used her father's cell phone, which she had swiped, to call 911, police said.

The boyfriend, 22-year-old Reme Johnson, last week began serving a 6-month sentence for theft at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn, Maine. He also has previous felony convictions for burglary and receiving stolen property, the Portland Press Herald reported. He is also a self-styled hip-hop artist who has gone by the name Young Merk.

Authorities in Maine said the parents apparently thought that, in light of their daughter's stage of pregnancy and the different abortion laws in each state, the abortion should be performed in New York. It was unclear how many weeks pregnant she was.

Personally, I'm all for abortion, but I think it's the mother's right...not the father's or the grandparents or the whoever else's...right to choose.

wow, ironically i love their last name..."kampf"

Ahh ok. Heard about this the other day but they didn't mention it was because the dad was black.


haha sucks for gramps and grandma

^OH jeez. The irony. Well they're from Maine. What did you expect?

So, the father was black. I've come across this news several times, but none of the articles mentioned the father was black. That's a very important piece of information.

This is really politically correctness gone awry. Nowadays, by censoring out sensitive racial information, the media is attempting to create an illusion that racism is a thing of the past and no longer exists in the US, that all people are fair and open-minded. If we can't see the problem and perceive it as delusional, then maybe we'll stop fighting it and stop challenging and undermining the status quo, which suits some particular people just fine.

I was just going to make a joke about that but...I changed my mind.

Here is another irony:



Talk about stereotypes.

A pillar of society for sure. It also speaks volumes about the pregnant woman for getting involved with a known felon. Sounds like the whole family is totally whacked. Trying to force an abortion on your child?? Wow thats like 1950's $hit. If it were my daughter I would say damn what were you thinking getting into a deal with a felon?? Well only 1 thing to do. Lets raise this child to be better than its father.

what the fu-k kinda parents are they, sick!

I don't give a $hit if the father is black, I'm just concerned that he's a criminal thats all.

Sounds like a future Springer episode.

lol, true

is Springer still on?

anyone parent, whether white, black, asian (probably moreso asian) would have done the same thing after finding out the father's a criminal

the parents just didn't want the child to grow up and be a criminal too. the parents were just thinking ahead because they did not want the jails to be overcrowed.











i'm jk

for the white hateys out there, i would venture to say that asian parents would have been more forceful/adamant about an abortion if they found out the child's father was black

I wanna make babies with that b!tch in your avatar.

That's what I was thinking.

Say 'Heil' to the Nazis for me.

Maine: "The Deep South Up North"