WILLIAMS, Calif. — A grandmother and her ex-husband are in jail after a five-year-old girl reported missing from Lincoln County was found in California, deputies said.
The girl was taken from her grandmother’s home, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. Her grandmother had temporary custody of her because of a current court case, deputies said.
Lincoln County investigators said the Department of Social Services contacted them Monday about the girl being taken from the home. The DSS worker said the girl was taken on April 2, and the grandmother, Donna Harris, had reached out to 83-year-old Orion Douglas Memmott, her ex-husband, in California.
Deputies said Memmott flew to Lincoln County and returned to California on April 3.
Later on Monday, Lincoln County deputies contacted the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons about an Amber Alert for the girl. But officers were told since her last known location was in California, the agency there would need to be contacted.
Highway patrol in California sent an endangered missing alert on Tuesday for three counties near Memmott’s home while searching for the girl, KRCR reported.
Lincoln County deputies said Memmott was tracked in several areas of Nevada and California.
Memmott was found on Thursday night at a motel in Williams, California, and was arrested by police, deputies said. He was booked into the Colusa County jail without bond.
The girl was found safe, investigators said. A local child services agency is working to get the girl back to her family in North Carolina.
Channel 9′s Erika Jackson asked the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services about the rules people have to follow when they have temporary custody orders.
“Decisions about the custody of children are made by a judge and detailed in a court order. Any limitations on a child’s ability to travel out of state would be in such order. If children are in custody of the Department of Social Services, travel out of state must be approved by the agency director or their designee,” the DHHS said in a statement sent on Tuesday.
Memmott and Donna Harris were charged with abduction of a child. Harris was taken to the Lincoln County jail and given a $20,000 bond, deputies said.
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