Kids missing for months found during traffic stop, Florida cops say. Mom, man arrested
After a mom was accused of stopping her son’s medical treatment, their family disappeared from law enforcement’s radar for nearly four months, Florida authorities said.
The 12-year-old and 14-year-old boys were recently found during a traffic stop, and the mom and her male partner were arrested, according to a Feb. 3 news release from the St. Petersburg Police Department.
In October, the woman took her son, who was 11 at the time, to a hospital in the Tampa Bay area for an illness, according to police.
But the 34-year-old mom “refused to continue medical care against the doctors’ advice,” police said. “She took him from the hospital without doctor’s permission.”
On Oct. 12, police put out a call asking for help finding the couple and the two boys, saying they had reason to be concerned for the brothers’ well-being.
But it wasn’t until a traffic stop in Polk County months later that the kids were found.
Deputies said they pulled the family’s vehicle over Feb. 1 and learned the mom had an arrest warrant out of Pinellas County for a child neglect charge.
During the traffic stop, the mom called 911 and said she “was scared for her life,” deputies said in a news release.
Deputies said they told her to hang up and get out of the car, but she “continually refused.”
While they tried to get her out of the car, her 50-year-old partner is accused of hitting deputies, leading to charges filed against him of two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting with violence.
The mom faces charges of child neglect with great bodily harm, resisting an officer without violence and misuse of 911, police said.
The couple was booked in Polk County jail, with the woman to be extradited to Pinellas County for the child neglect charge.
The kids were found safe and placed in custody of the state, authorities said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Kids missing for months found during traffic stop, Florida cops say. Mom, man arrested."