SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A federal official says a disbarred Harvard University-trained attorney is set to plead guilty in a kidnapping case in California that police initially dismissed as a hoax.
Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento, said Wednesday that defendant Matthew Muller is expected to enter a new plea Thursday. He previously pleaded not guilty to a kidnapping charge.
Horwood did not provide further details on the plea change and no documents were immediately available laying out specifics.
A call to Muller's attorney, Thomas Johnson, was not immediately returned.
Prosecutors initially charged Muller with kidnapping Denise Huskins from her Vallejo home in March 2015.
Huskins' boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, reported that kidnappers broke into the couple's home, abducted Huskins and demanded money.
Huskins turned up safe two days later in her hometown of Huntington Beach, where she says she was dropped off.
Vallejo police at first dismissed the kidnapping as a hoax, though the city has since apologized to Huskins.
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