Campus lurer Tony Kadyhrob has been indicted by the Mercer County Grand Jury on one count of second-degree attempted kidnapping and one count of third-degree luring, according to Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio.
The kidnapping charge could carry a penalty of five to 10 years in prison if Kadyhrob is convicted, while the luring charge could lead to a prison sentence of three to five years, she said.
The indictment, which was returned on July 7, resulted from a March 28 incident at Rider University. Kadyhrob, 68, who gained a certain celebrity both on campus and in the international media from his resemblance to actor Christopher Walken, was initially charged with attempted abduction of a 19-year-old female undergraduate at Rider after he pulled on her arm and attempted to lure her into his car.
Kadyhrob was not apprehended at the scene, but a warrant was later issued for his arrest and he was released on $2,500 bail. It is unclear whether these indictments will affect his bail, though DeBlasio said he would not be taken into custody unless another charge were to be filed.
Princeton University’s Public Safety department sent out a campus alert following the incident at Rider, warning that Kadyhrob had allegedly been involved in incidents at neighboring colleges but not at the University, though the Lawrence Township Police Department released an internal bulletin warning that he had frequented Princeton, according to The Times of Trenton.
The incident at Rider was just one in a string of transgressions by Kadyhrob. He was shortly after banned from The College of New Jersey’s campus after a tipster reported seeing a man that matched Kadyhrob’s description. Kadyhrob was warned that he would be arrested if he returned to the school.
He was supposedly spotted at TCNJ again the following day, though he could not be found after an extensive search, according to the Times. He reportedly told TCNJ officials that he planned to visit Rutgers University next and told police he has already visited Princeton. Kadyhrob was later banned from entering any school property in New Jersey as a condition of his bail.
According to the Times, Kadyhrob described the ruling banning him from state campuses as a “joke” at the time.
“I am totally innocent, and I have no interest whatsoever in making my face more famous than I already am,” he reportedly said. “I’m not intimidating. Tony Kadyhrob is not intimidated by this joke, a little nothing that never occurred, and I will be found innocent without a doubt.”
According to Kadyhrob’s sister, who was contacted by The Times of Trenton and said she lives with her brother, Kadyhrob is not a criminal but rather has been plagued by schizophrenia for decades and has been institutionalized five times in shortly over a year.
“He’s hearing voices and he talks back to them all day long, and he thinks the voices are coming from the windows and putting signals on his body,” his sister explained. “Sometimes he sleeps on the floor so the signals cannot get him.”
She also added that his illness may contribute to his attraction to college campuses, as, she noted, she has heard him tell himself, “Tony, you are 21 and a graduate from Princeton University.”
A few days after being banned from state campuses, Kadyhrob was spotted near Princeton’s campus when he was pulled over for a traffic violation, according to another campus safety alert sent out by Public Safety. He was originally noticed by a community member on Wiggins Street, two blocks from campus, who then called Public Safety, which notified Borough Police.
Borough police took him into custody but later released him after a brief interview because he had not been spotted on University property and thus had not violated the terms of his bail.
It is unclear when he was again detained, but Kadyhrob was committed to the crisis center at Trenton’s Capital Health Regional Medical Center later that day. It is unclear if he is still undergoing treatment.
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 29. No trial date has yet been set.
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