Man arrested in Virginia Beach abduction has troubled past

VIRGINIA BEACH

Five weeks ago, Matthew R. Nash got out of city jail. On Thursday, he was arrested in New York, accused of stealing a minivan and abducting a young child.

Police caught Nash, 24, about 4:40 a.m., almost 19 hours after they say he stole a minivan in Virginia Beach and drove off with 17-month-old Naomi Hilel. The incident Wednesday morning at a 7-Eleven on South Witchduck Road triggered an Amber Alert. Naomi was found unharmed in a Newport News hotel parking lot.

Nash and the stolen Honda Odyssey made it more than 500 miles before New York law enforcement authorities spotted him and gave chase. They eventually found him hiding in a wooded area near his hometown of Camillus, N.Y., and charged him with possession of stolen property, unlawfully fleeing police and several traffic violations. He was arraigned in the Otisco town court and jailed without bond.

Authorities plan to seek his extradition to Virginia Beach, where he faces carjacking and abduction charges. Beach police declined to say how they identified Nash as a suspect within an hour and a half of the crime Wednesday, but spokeswoman Margie Long said 7-Eleven's surveillance footage helped.

Court records and people who know Nash described him as a troubled young man who dropped out of high school in 10th grade and became enmeshed in the drug culture. He racked up charges of theft and harassment in New York.

In 2006, he was convicted of possession with intent to distribute drugs in Virginia Beach. Records show that authorities had found marijuana and 211 Ecstasy pills in his van after he arrived at a Beach home from New York.

Nash pleaded guilty to the felony drug charge and, in addition to 99 years of probation, received a 10-year prison sentence with all but two years suspended.

In September 2007, Nash walked out of Haynesville Correctional Center and headed back to New York. By March 2008, he had failed to check in with his probation officer. Police arrested him in October.

Authorities brought Nash back to Virginia Beach, where Circuit Judge A. Joseph Canada Jr. sentenced him to 12 months in jail and ordered him into a substance abuse treatment program.

A pre-sentence report from 2006 shows that Nash used drugs at age 12. He had reported taking "eight to 10 pills of ecstasy a day and smoking anywhere from one-eighth to one ounce of marijuana a day," and he said he used cocaine and LSD repeatedly.

Nash finished the drug treatment program June 9. A day later, Canada ordered him released from jail and placed on probation for another year.

Julie Pickell, spokeswoman for Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant's office, said the early release was not unusual, given that Nash completed the treatment program, served a majority of his sentence and had not committed a violent offense.

About five years and six months of suspended prison time still hangs over Nash's head, she said. He faces life in prison plus 10 years if convicted of the carjacking and abduction charges, she said.

Before his conviction in 2006, Nash worked as a grocery store clerk and split wood for a fence company. Neither of those jobs lasted more than a year. He said he quit because his mother would pay his bills, court records show.

Nash fathered a daughter, born in September 2004, and broke up with the child's mother about nine months later. Within the past year, he fathered a boy with another woman, said his paternal grandmother, Jane Nesbit, who lives in Syracuse, N.Y.

She said she had been following news reports of her grandson's arrest. She said Nash was raised by his mother after his mother and father split.

"The only time he'd ever come around here was when he was in trouble," she said. "I don't know who he's going to have on his side now that his mother died."

Nesbit said Nash called his father Wednesday and said he'd stolen a car in Virginia but that Edward Nesbit hung up because he "didn't want to hear it."

Veronica Vecchio of Solvay, N.Y., is the great-grandmother of Nash's 4-year-old daughter. She said she wasn't surprised by the newest charges.

She described him as a troublemaker and said her granddaughter wanted nothing to do with him.

"I wish he would straighten up, but it doesn't look like it," she said.

After leaving the hotel in Newport News, Nash drove north, making his way toward Camillus, police said.

Meanwhile, Virginia Beach police asked law enforcement in Onondaga County, which includes Camillus, to keep a lookout for Nash. They thought he might be headed there, Long said.

A pproximately 10:30 p.m., they spotted him, said Sgt. John D'Eredita, a spokesman for the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office. He was driving the Odyssey on Interstate 81 southeast of Camillus.

Police were unable to pull him over, possibly because of a concrete barrier on the highway, D'Eredita said.

For the next six hours, they hunted for Nash as he wound through the region south of his hometown.

In the LaFayette area, a sheriff's lieutenant tried to pull Nash over, but he eluded arrest by speeding and driving recklessly, according to a news release. Police found the Odyssey on the side of the road near Otisco Lake. Nash had fled.

A helicopter spotted him hiding in the woods near the town of Marcellus early Thursday morning. He showed up on the helicopter's infrared sensor, D'Eredita said.

He was arrested without incident five miles from his home, D'Eredita said.

Naomi's family learned of Nash's capture about 6 a.m. Thursday, said her father, Naor Hilel. It's a relief to know he's off the streets, he said.

"We don't want that to happen to another kid," he said. "Thank God that everything happened so fast. Thank God we found our daughter."

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com