A Battle Creek man was sentenced for his part in a plot to kidnap and murder a child.

Branch County Circuit Court officials say 33 year old Matthew Toole was
sentenced to 7 to 50 years on a charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He was given a concurrent sentence of 25 to 50 years on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree criminal sexual conduct on a child under the age of 13. Toole plead guilty to those charges in November 2019.

These sentences will be served concurrently with the sentence Toole was given in Calhoun County of 50 to 140 years where he plead no contest to charges of child pornography.

Michigan State Police started an investigation in 2018 into Toole and Talia Furman for child pornography. Troopers say Toole and Furman were part of a group that assaulted children and were involved in child pornography, including making videos of children being sexually assaulted and shared the videos among the members.

Both Toole and Furman along with Jayme LaPointe and David Bailey were
arrested in Branch County in September of 2018 following a Michigan State Police investigation into a plot to kidnap, torture, sexually assault and then kill a young child.

Furman and Bailey both plead guilty in June 2019 and were sentenced to 25 to 50 years in Branch County. LaPointe plead guilty was sentenced in September 2019 to 25 to 50 years.