Grand Island kidnapping suspect also charged with assaulting cellmate

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - One of the suspects in the January kidnapping of three small children now faces additional charges that he pulled a shank on a jail cellmate.

Jozef McAllister, 17, of Hastings, is charged in this latest incident with terroristic threats, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, and assault by a confined person.

Court records indicate the cellmate, a fellow juvenile, said McAllister pulled a homemade sharp-edged instrument commonly known as a shank on March 1. McAllister then set the shank behind him and said he would kill the cellmate if he tried to take it. The cellmate then said McAllister punched him several times in the face.

A probable cause hearing on the new charges against McAllister is set for March 21.

McAllister is one two teenagers arrested on Jan. 29 for stealing a car containing three Grand Island children ages 5, 1, and seven months old. Two of those children were later abandoned in a pickup truck and the third, a seven-month old baby, was left on the deck of a rural Hall County farmhouse in freezing temperatures.

McAllister faces nine felony charges in connection with the kidnapping and has asked that his case be transferred to juvenile court. A hearing on that request is scheduled March 24.

The other teen suspect in the kidnapping case, Tate Wolfe, 18, of Kearney, also faces nine felony charges. He’s scheduled for arraignment in Hall County District Court March 21. At arraignment, a suspect typically enters a plea of guilty or not guilty.