Nov 13, 2007 12:52 pm US/Eastern
Abducted Toddler In Custody Of Social Services
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Belinda Brown allegedly abducted her grandson, Antonio.
The tug of war over the missing two-year-old boy ended with a pair of arrests and the child back in the hospital.
Sally Thorner reports the child is now in the custody of Social Services.
Antonio Brown, 2, was rushed to the hospital Monday evening. Police say he was kidnapped from the hospital early Sunday morning by his grandmother, Belinda Brown, who is now behind bars and charged with kidnapping and reckless endangerment.
Antonio Brown's adorable smile hides the hard life he's already had. His 15-year-old mother and 34-year-old grandmother are both homeless. So is his great-aunt, who has custody of him. When a family feud broke out over who should care for him, he became a prisoner of the war--kidnapped, police say, by his grandmother in the middle of the night from Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was being evaluated for vomiting.
He was missing until early Monday morning.
"Officers got a tip that the baby and his grandmother were in the 1800 block of Guilford Avenue. They notified homicide detectives, who showed up at that location and found the baby," said Donny Moses, Baltimore City Police spokesperson.
Antonio was rushed back to Hopkins Children's Center, where he was awake and moving around.
His grandmother and her husband were both arrested.
Brown's 13-year-old son was also taken to the hospital for evaluation.
"Grandmother's kind of out of it, but she looked all right. Wasn't nothing crazy going on. Everything was nice and calm," said neighbor Godfrey Hicks.
Eyewitness News has learned as late as Sunday night, Belinda Brown and little Antonio spent the night on Greenmount Avenue, at a vacant, boarded-up house with no heat or running water.
"The baby always looked fine. I gave her a few dollars one time to get the baby something," said neighbor Kavin Divers.
Brown now faces charges of kidnapping, abduction and reckless endangerment, but Antonio's future is much less certain.
In a statement to
Eyewitness News, a spokesperson for Johns Hopkins Hospital says the Children's Center takes the care and safety of its patients very seriously.
Belinda Brown's husband will not face charges.
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