RALEIGH - The man who orchestrated the kidnapping of a Wake Forest man two years ago was sentenced to life in prison Thursday. This sentence is in addition to another life sentence for a previous conviction.
Kelvin Melton was found guilty in June.
Melton was the leader of a gang, and was already in prison for a life sentence when this unfolded.
Thursday he was sentenced to life plus 84 months consecutive imprisonment.
The judge further recommended that Melton serve both his federal sentence and the remainder of his North Carolina life sentence at the ADX Super Max Federal Penitentiary in Florence, Colorado in the most secure part of that facility.
It all unfolded in April 2014 when Frank Janssen, the father of a former Wake County prosecutor went missing from his Wake Forest home.
Then four days later FBI agents found Janssen about 400 miles away in Atlanta.
In June, Melton was found guilty in a jury trial of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and aiding and abetting, kidnapping and aiding and abetting, and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of, a crime of violence, that being kidnapping and aiding and abetting.
He orchestrated several gang members to carry out this plot while he was behind bars by using a contraband cell phone.
This was an act of retaliation. The plan was to actually kidnap Frank Janssen's daughter Colleen, who handled a prior case that initially landed Melton in prison for life.
“The federal prosecution of Kelvin Melton is now complete, and justice has been served,” said United States Attorney John Stuart Bruce. “The credit for this successful prosecution goes to the hard-working prosecutors in our office, the dedicated agents of the FBI, and scores of officers from state and local agencies who worked together to rescue the victim and solve the case.”