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NEWS
Flea market kidnapping still unresolved
HUNTINGTON -- It's been more than two and a half years, and there is no resolution to in a Milton kidnapping case.
The incident happened Oct. 2, 2005, at the Milton Flea Market. Court documents state a man posed as a police officer and abducted Lun Jin, then 19. She escaped from the man's custody in eastern Kanawha County.
A grand jury later indicted retired U.S. Marine Capt. Michael Brown. It charged him with kidnapping and grand larceny. It alleges that Brown abducted Jin and took more than $1,000 in collector coins from her father, Xian Jin.
Circuit Judge Dan O'Hanlon has scheduled at least five trial dates, but proceedings never commenced. The most recent trial date passed almost a year ago, Aug. 28, 2007.
No documents have been filed in the case since Aug. 15, 2007, when a jury questionnaire and blank subpoenas were discussed.
Brown is from McKavett, Texas. He is free on bond, but terms of his release prohibit him from traveling to or through West Virginia.
Brown was demoted and forced out of the U.S. Marine Corps on Feb. 1, 2006. The one-time major "involuntarily retired" from the military as a captain. The move followed a military review board's finding of misconduct concerning Brown's actions while he was deployed in Okinawa, Japan.
Japanese authorities charged Brown with the attempted rape of a girl in Okinawa while he was deployed there in 2002. He was later convicted of lesser charges.
