MIAMI GARDNS, Fla. (WFLA) — The 9-year-old South Florida teen is safe and his mother is facing an incident that prompted a statewide amber alert after Tuesday’s incident.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a warning Tuesday evening after authorities said the boy’s mother, 45-year-old Tameka Badwa, snatched him on his way home from school.
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Court records obtained by NBC affiliate WTVJ show that Budwah has no custody of the child. The judge gave the boy’s father full custody last year after reviewing evidence, including a photograph of Badwa holding a gun.
Miami Gardens police said the boy was first greeted from school Tuesday by a transport driver. The driver soon realized she was being chased and was pulled to the side of the road.
Badwa then came to the driver and told her that he was there to take his son to an appointment as a doctor, according to investigators.
The driver tried to check on the boy’s father, but while doing so, police said Badwa grabbed his son from the woman’s car and drove him with him.
Authorities were able to reach Badwa by phone after the Amber Alert was issued, and she eventually agreed to surrender him to an officer at Miami Gardens Police Headquarters.
Police said the child was scared and shaken when he showed up at the facility. He was back home with his father on Wednesday.
Badwa was arrested and charged with false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13, parental interference in custody, robbery of occupied transport, violation of domestic violence/injunction, and minor theft.
The judge wanted to hear from police officers before deciding on her bond on Wednesday, WTVJ reported. She was being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Centre.
