NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. (AP) - A Texas woman accused of abducting her two children from their Oneida County home is facing custodial interference and other charges. Police say 24-year-old Christin Brown was armed with a stun gun when she broke into her estranged husband's apartment Aug. 18 and took the children from a baby sitter. Brown was barred by court order from seeing her children. An AMBER Alert led to her arrest the next day in Virginia. The children, ages 3 and 5, were unharmed and are now with their maternal grandfather in Harris County, Texas. Brown appeared Thursday in New Hartford Town Court. Bail was set at $14,000 cash or $28,000 bond. She's due back in court Sept. 11 after she gets a lawyer. Authorities also charged her with criminal trespass, possession of a weapon and child endangerment.
August 19, 2009:
New Hartford children found safe, Amber Alert cancelled
New Hartford (WSYR-TV) – A pair of young children are most likely home right now in Oneida County after being rescued in Virginia, Wednesday morning. New Hartford police say the three and five year old were forcibly taken from their home by their mother Christin Brown of Texas and her boyfriend just before 7pm Tuesday. An AMBER alert was issued later that night – and investigators say it led to the capture. Police say Christin Brown was on a mission. She had driven up from Texas the other day with the sole intent of taking her children back; kids she's been legally barred from seeing for at least a year now. “He broke down. He was looking for all of the paperwork because he had full custody. She had no business coming here. We believe it was planned out. She wanted to take the kids,” says Kevin Karas, a friend of the children’s father. Police say Brown had a stun gun on her and she planned to use it. They say she forcibly took the two children from a home on a small street in Chadwicks when she hopped into a taxi for a short ride to meet her boyfriend for a longer ride. “They were being followed by the boyfriend of the mother in a car from Texas. They had driven up to New Hartford and loaded the children into that car,” says Lt. Timothy O’Neil with New Hartford Police. O’Neil says there was real concern over the safety of the children. They were only three and five years old. The mother's history included some mental health issues in the order of protection keeping her away from the kids and their father. A Virginia State Trooper recognized the car after an AMBER Alert was sent out, according to New Hartford Police. That’s what led to the arrest. “When they made the stop, she got out of the car, hands up, says 'I give up, I’m glad it's over,'” O’Neil says. “We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we’re glad that the kids got stopped with the mother and her boyfriend in Virginia,” Karas says. Karas says the father was from the area - and about a year ago had moved from Texas with the children to start over. The Oneida County district attorney says she has the right to fight extradition from Virginia back to New York - which could be two to three months; if not, it would be much quicker.
Police needed to wait for more info before enacting alert
It's the first time that Oneida County law enforcement has ever had to activate an Amber Alert; it came about three hours after the kids were forcibly taken by Brown. "Here we had a pretty good idea who they were with and where they were going -- that worked in our factor -- but at the same time we needed more information before we could get the Amber Alert out," says New Hartford Police Lt. Timothy O’Neil. O’Neil says an abductor gets a mile for every minute they're gone. He said they knew they were on a highway headed out of state, but they were just watching the clock as they got false information before they could put out that Amber Alert. "You come right out of the gate running hard and trying very quickly to bring these children back home," O’Neil says. Within a few hours after the Amber Alert went out, the kids were found safe. Brown faces at most one and a third to four years in prison for custodial interference, something even the DA says needs to change. "It really needs to be looked at,” says Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara. “The punishment does not fit the crime because it cannot be kidnapping for various reasons -- it's just custodial.” That's for the days ahead; the primary concern Tuesday night was getting the kids back safely. "I can't tell you how relieved we were when the phone call came that the Virginia State Police had got them," says O’Neil. O'Neil says the arrests may never have happened, and certainly not as quickly, without the Amber Alert. Brown and the children's father are separated but not divorced; law enforcement officials expect to charge more people with helping Brown abduct the kids.
August 18, 2009:
New Hartford, Oneida Co. (WSYR-TV) – Four hours after it was issued, police canceled a nationwide Amber Alert after two abducted children from the New Hartford area were found safe in Virginia. New Hartford Police said the person responsible for the abduction was in custody. Police say Christin Joy Brown, 24, forcibly took 5-year-old Timothy Scott Brown and 3-year-old Carmella Joy Brown from a home at 3347 Church Street in Chadwicks, in the Town of New Hartford. According to authorities, the woman forced her way into the home, where the two children live with their father. She took the children and sped off. Just after 2am, the Amber Alert was canceled, after New Hartford Police said the two kids were found in Virginia. ABC affiliate WHSV-TV said Brown was taken into custody in Rockingham County, Virginia, with her two children, in a gray rental car, with Texas license plates. Virginia State Police Trooper Robert Lawson told WHSV-TV Brown was traveling through West Virginia when a cell phone ping was recorded. He pulled over the grey Toyota she was driving along Interstate 81 in Northwestern Virginia. Tpr. Lawson said the two kids were in the back seat, one was in a child seat, the other was not. The trooper told WSHV-TV Brown was also traveling with a male passenger who didn't want to appear on camera. He was not arrested. The male traveler says Brown and her husband had separated but not divorced. New Hartford Police have scheduled a news conference for 10:30 Wednesday morning to provide further details. We'll post the information on 9wsyr.com, and have full details on the noon news.
This is an approximate look at the route Christin Joy Brown allegedly traveled. She was found by Virginia State Police in Rockingham County, Virginia.
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