LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — An abduction charge has been dropped against a Lincoln County grandmother who refused to return an 8-month-old child to its mother. A judge has also granted her emergency custody of the baby.
The grandmother, Shelley Heafner, had been babysitting the child since June 6 while her mother Rebecca Lynn Stanley was working.
(Shelley Heafner)
When Stanley said she was bringing the child’s father, who was recently released from jail, with her to pick up her daughter, Heafner refused to return the child and left before the deputy or the parents arrived.
Heafner, 62, of Buffalo Shoals Road in Lincolnton, was charged with one felony count of abduction of a child. That charge has now been dropped.
Deputies say the baby is safe and no other charges are expected.
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