Man accused in kidnapping, carjacking faces child porn charge

By Rich Coleman

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 | 5:31 p.m.

A Henderson man accused of kidnapping a young girl and forcing a Las Vegas cabdriver to drive him and the girl to California is facing federal child pornography charges, said Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada.

Matthew Charles Hayward, 28, is being charged with two counts of kidnapping, carjacking, production of child pornography and transporting child pornography after he was arrested on unrelated charges near Flagstaff, Ariz., on March 27.

On March 26 at about 11:30 a.m., a man called Henderson Police to report that his 7-year-old daughter was missing. He told police she might have been taken by Hayward, his girlfriend’s cousin.

At 1:30 p.m., officers found Hayward’s broken-down vehicle on U.S. 95 near Tropicana. At 3 p.m., Barstow, Calif., police notified investigators that a taxi driver from Las Vegas had flagged down a passing motorist in Barstow and said he had been held at knifepoint by Hayward in Las Vegas. He said he was forced to drive Hayward and the girl to California, authorities said.

Hayward allegedly kicked him and the girl out of the cab in an isolated area near Barstow and drove away with the cab. Police later found the cab and recovered two knives and Hayward’s cell phone, which contained a pornographic picture of a young girl taken several weeks before the alleged kidnapping.

Federal kidnapping and carjacking charges were filed against Hayward on April 1. He is scheduled for an arraignment in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on April 29. If convicted, Hayward faces a minimum of 20 years in prison.