STRONG – Three boys – two from Colorado and one from Oklahoma – who were taken illegally after their parents had lost custody of them, have been found safe in Strong and Farmington.

All three boys are in Maine Department of Human Services custody and are heading home, said Detective David St. Laurent of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.

In early January, local authorities received a call from a DHS official in Oklahoma City who said a child who was supposed to be turned over to their custody had been taken by his parents and transported to Farmington.

Last year, the parents, who St. Laurent said were in their 40s, lost custody of the 8-year-old boy, and instead of turning him over to the state, fled Oklahoma and came to Maine.

Through a joint investigation with the local DHS office and the Farmington police, the boy was located and picked up by St. Laurent and a DHS worker in early January.

The boy was in “fine” shape, the detective said, and was attending a local school.

Later that day, police arrived at the parents home, and informed them they had the child and were returning him to Oklahoma City, per court order.

Local police did not have authority to arrest the couple, St. Laurent explained, because the arrest warrants were not issued in Maine.

If they were to return to that state though, St. Laurent said they would be arrested.

In an unrelated incident this week, both the Maine State Police and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department received complaints that two children that were listed as missing in a national crime database were living in Strong.

The mother of the 10- and 6-year-olds had fled Colorado after a court awarded the boys’ grandmother full custody.

DHS, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and the State Police worked together to locate the two boys and on Tuesday morning, picked them up.

“They were in fine condition,” St. Laurent said.

Assisting in that case were Trooper Scott Dalton, and Lt. Niles Yeaton and Chief Deputy Raymond Meldrum of the Sheriff’s Department.

St. Laurent said if returning to Colorado, the mother would face charges that were equivalent to kidnapping. She supposedly moved here because of family in the area, he said.

All three boys also told authorities their parents came here because they liked the area, St. Laurent added.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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