Fake Babysitting Job Led to Kidnapping; Woman Gets 8.5 Years

A fake babysitting job brought two women to a Washington, D.C., home, where they were attacked and kidnapped in a plan to stop one from testifying in a rape case, federal prosecutors said. Both women eventually escaped after their captors abandoned a car with a flat tire.

Cierra Charity Lee, 21, was sentenced on Oct. 6 to eight years and six months in federal prison. She had pleaded guilty to kidnapping and armed robbery in April.

U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper also ordered five years of supervised release. Prosecutors had sought a 14-year prison sentence.

The Offer Was for Babysitting

Lee offered $100 for babysitting work and directed the women to a Southeast Washington home, according to court documents described by Daily Voice.

They arrived on Oct. 20, 2025. In the basement, Robynn Danielle Bynum attacked one woman; the second was injured while trying to intervene, prosecutors said.

Lee helped restrain both women and took their phones, keys and other belongings. Prosecutors said she questioned one victim about a pending rape case against her boyfriend, Kayvon Edwards.

Jail Calls Revealed the Plan

Edwards was incarcerated in Prince George’s County at the time. Investigators reviewed monitored jail calls and concluded that he directed the kidnapping to keep the woman from appearing in court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors said Lee and Bynum put the women in one victim’s vehicle and told them they would be left in Pennsylvania.

The vehicle struck something and developed a flat tire. Lee and Bynum fled, leaving the injured women restrained inside. The women freed themselves and sought help.

Guilty Pleas in the Kidnapping Case

Bynum and Edwards also pleaded guilty to kidnapping and armed robbery, prosecutors said. Those pleas concern the abduction and robbery; the reporting does not establish a conviction in the separate rape case.

The two women went to the home expecting paid work. They survived the attack and escaped together.

References: D.C. Woman Sentenced in Kidnapping and Violent Armed Robbery of Two Women Lured for a Fake ‘Babysitting’ Job | DC Woman Cierra Lee Sentenced In Fake Babysitting Kidnapping | Woman gets more than 8 year sentence after pleading guilty in DC kidnapping, robbery

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