Bond Hearings On Mother, Grandparents and Other For Forcing Into Home And Taking Child

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
Date: Jul 27 2012 12:07 PM

DOTHAN:   Four suspects were in Houston County District Court for a bond reduction hearing.

The four defendants, John David Keeton, Jamie Mae Keeton, Kathryn Ann Fallon and Brian McRae Erwin were all charged by Dothan Police Department for Burglary in the first degree. That offense is a Class A felony which carries a penalty of a minimum of 10 years to life in the Alabama Penitentiary.

The charges stem from an incident which occurred Saturday in the Chapelwood community of Dothan. The allegations are the four broke into the home of the ex-husband of Jamie Mae Keeton and took their five year old child. Two of the persons were arrested in Ozark and two were arrested in Florence Alabama following the Saturday incident. Since their arrest all four have been held in the Houston County Jail under a $ 500,000.00 bond each.

Court Proceedings

Today in Court one defendant was represented by Dothan Attorney Shaun McGhee and Thomas Smith. The other three were represented by out of town ( Montgomery and Birmingham ) attorneys.

The defendants are the mother of the child, Jamie Mae Keeton, the grandfather of the child John David Keeton and the grandmother of the child Kathryn Ann Fallon and a friend Brian McRae Erwin.

It was represented to the court there was a safety plan in affect in Lauderdale County Alabama in regards to the five year old child. The father of the child has summer visitation of the child. The mother and grandparents found out the father was attempting to enroll the child in school in Dothan when they were notified the father and/or local school system was seeking records. Fearing the child would not be returned, the  four are alleged to come to Dothan. In court today is was represented the four parked at Home Depot in Dothan, leaving one vehicle and all four getting into another vehicle. The four then traveled to the Chapelwood residence where the allegations are Erwin went to the front door representing to be from utilities. The father did not know him and closed the door. The report to the court was Erwin kicked the door in and made entry into the residence.

Reports are the grandfather, John David Keeton and the Erwin got into a fight with the father. The five year old was taken from her bed and the telephone lines to the Chapelwood residence were cut. The four persons left the Chapelwood residence and traveled back to Home Depot where they separated into the two vehicles.

Two of the persons, Erwin and the mother, traveled north on Highway 231 and the grandparents and the child traveled Highway 431 returning to Florence or Killeen Alabama. Reports to the court are that they four would keep their cell phones off except to periodically check the location and status of the other.

The mother and Erwin were stopped by Ozark Police. Dothan Police Criminal Investigator Robert Cole traveled to Ozark and interviewed the mother and Erwin.

Later the grandparents were stopped by Alabama State Troopers and Florence Police as they returned to Florence/Killen. Investigator Cole testified there was a brief chase of the defendants. The Birmingham Attorney represented to the court they only had to wait to get off the bridge to stop. There were no pending charges from the chase in Florence/Killen.

The child was taken into custody of Lauderdale County DHR and physical custody placed with the father. The out of town attorneys represented to the court that was only because all of the care takers were in jail and under a $ 500,000.00 bond.

The Birmingham Attorney represented to the court the divorce decree gives custody to the mother. However a safe plan with DHR and not a court order places custody with the grandparents. The mother has pending Child Abuse charges against her because she is alleged to have left the children in the car for a long period of time unattended. Actual divorce decree custody was not taken and custody was not taken by Lauderdale County DHR but a safe plan was put into place for the children to be in the custody of the grandparents.

The child’s father that lives in Dothan has summer visitation.  The Birmingham Attorney represented to the court the father presented to DHR a false visitation document representing he had visitation from June 15 to July 15. The Birmingham Attorney represented to the court the visitation was actually two weeks the first of June and two weeks the first of July. The attorney represented to the court Lauderdale County DHR did not  know that until this incident occurred.

Dothan Police Criminal Investigator Cole represented to the court he believed the four were flight risks. Cole said they live a short distance from Mississippi and Tennessee lines. The out of town attorneys represented to the court they own property in Lauderdale County and would not be a flight risk.

Investigator Cole testified that he did not have documents from Lauderdale County DHR. They were not returning his phone calls and were not being cooperative.

The bond range for the criminal offense is $ 10,000.00 to $ 60,000.00. The out of town attorneys asked the bond be lowered. Assistant District Attorney Jarrod Blumberg asked the bonds be set no lower than $ 150,000.00.

The court said this issue sounds more domestic related to child custody. The court said the family should have contacted law enforcement and not made the attempts to take the child. The court however found no testimony to warrant the high bonds and set the bonds at the maximum of the bond schedule of $ 60,000.00, with each defendant being required to execute a Waiver of Extradition. That means if they flee they automatically have waived all rights and will be returned to Houston County. The court also set conditions of bond in the defendants were to have no contact with the victim or child without further  orders of the court, either Houston County District Court and/or the court having jurisdiction of the court having the divorce and/or custody of the child.

The Court made it clear to the four defendants, violations would result in additional criminal charges and/or revocation of their bonds.

The grandfather has holds for criminal charges on him in Madison County for Receiving Stolen Property. When his bond is made in Houston County he will be held for Madison County to come to Houston County and transport him to Madison County. The Birmingham Attorney said those charges were the result of a misunderstanding.

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