Child pornography charge added to kidnap case

Child pornography charges have been added to the federal case against a man accused of kidnapping a cabdriver and a 7-year-old Henderson girl.

Matthew Hayward, 28, of Henderson was arrested on unrelated charges near Flagstaff, Ariz., on March 27, a day after the girl was taken from the Allegro Apartments, 951 Las Palmas Entrada Ave. in Henderson.

The girl was taken to Barstow, Calif., in a hijacked taxicab before she and the cabdriver were released unharmed.

A federal grand jury in Las Vegas returned a superseding indictment Tuesday that charges Hayward with two counts of kidnapping and one count of carjacking. Those crimes occurred March 26, according to the indictment.

The document also charges Hayward with one count of producing child pornography and one count of transporting child pornography. According to the indictment, the pornography was produced around Feb. 11 and involved an 8-year-old girl.

Hayward’s arraignment is April 29 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

According to earlier court records, a man called Henderson police on March 26 to report his daughter missing. The man suspected that Hayward, his girlfriend’s cousin and roommate, had taken the child.

Authorities found a pornographic picture of a girl on Hayward’s cellphone, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.