Hastings teen sentenced to prison in G.I. kidnapping case

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - A Hastings teenager accused of leaving a baby outside of a farmhouse in freezing weather during a kidnapping was sentenced to at least 60 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Jozef McAllister, 18, was convicted on 10 related charges, nine of which are felonies.

Those charges are three counts of kidnapping, three counts of intentional child abuse, two counts of theft, one count of operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer. On Thursday, District Judge Andrew Butler sentenced McAllister to at least 60 years in prison and no more than 132 years.

McAllister was convicted in November as part of a plea bargain.

McAllister was one of two teenagers arrested on Jan. 29, 2023 for stealing a car containing three Grand Island children at the time, who were ages 5, 1, and seven months old. Two of those children were later abandoned in a pickup truck and the third, the seven-month-old baby, was left on the deck of a rural Hall County farmhouse in freezing temperatures. The infant was found in time and has recovered. 

The other teenager, 19-year-old Tate Wolfe of Kearney pleaded no contest to the same crimes as McAllister. 

Wolfe was sentenced in October, where Judge Patrick Lee gave him no less than 66 years and no more than 132 years behind bars.