Kidnapping case stacked on top of Ohio Amber Alert suspect's pending swatting trial

NEWARK, Ohio (WCMH) -- The suspect in a Thursday Amber Alert in Ohio is facing a charge over the incident, but already had existing criminal cases active against him.

On Friday, prosecutors indicted Sewak Tiwari, 19, on a felony charge of kidnapping in Licking County Common Pleas Court. The single charge filed on Friday stems from police accusing Tiwari of abducting an infant in Newark. He has an initial bond hearing for the kidnapping case scheduled for 1 p.m.

Tiwari became the subject of the Amber Alert just days after getting out of jail over an active case in Licking County Municipal Court. There, he faces a charge of domestic violence by threats. A judge ordered him to have "no violent contact" with a woman who does not have the same last name. The docket record also showed the same day as the Amber Alert went out, a motion to dismiss was filed.

In Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Tiwari faces two separate cases: one with a felony theft charge dated to July 2023, and another from June 2024 for a felony swatting charge. He pleaded not guilty to both. Tiwari originally had a simultaneous trial for both the theft and swatting cases scheduled for Wednesday, but his attorney convinced the judge presiding over it to reschedule to Oct. 16.

During the search for Tiwari under an Amber Alert, a COTA bus operator noticed the suspect’s car while on his break and ultimately called police to the area. The state canceled its Amber Alert shortly after 7 p.m., when officers found the suspect and the indant safe at a hotel near Easton Town Center.