A Rockdale County custody dispute erupted into a late-night police search Friday after investigators say a father and his girlfriend assaulted a 4-year-old child with autism and took the child without the mother’s permission. Authorities identified the adults as Terrence Noble and Desiree Casswell. Deputies say they left a home in the Smoke Rise East subdivision and drove to Atlanta with the child. Officials say the child was back in the mother’s custody shortly after midnight and was not hurt.
According to 11Alive, Rockdale deputies asked Atlanta police to check a location in the city and contacted Noble’s mother, who helped bring the child back to Rockdale County. The outlet reports the episode started as a custody dispute on Friday and that investigators consulted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about issuing an Amber Alert before opting for a mass-media notice instead. The coverage also lists the adults’ names and the neighborhood where the incident began.
State Alert Rules And How Police Responded
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation notes that Levi’s Call, Georgia’s Amber Alert system, is activated only when investigators reasonably believe an abduction occurred and they have enough descriptive information to broadcast, such as a vehicle tag or a clear suspect description. GBI guidance points to other tools officers can use when Levi’s Call criteria are not met, including the state’s Missing Children Center and third-party telephone-alert services to quickly notify neighborhoods and agencies, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation adds. Those resources let agencies enter a case into the national NCIC database and issue localized alerts even without a statewide Amber Alert.
Kidnapping Warrants And What Could Be Next
Warrants have been issued for Noble and Casswell on assault and kidnapping charges, according to 11Alive. Under Georgia law, kidnapping is a serious felony defined at O.C.G.A. § 16-5-40 and can carry significant penalties depending on the circumstances, while related custody offenses appear in O.C.G.A. § 16-5-45. Those statutes address situations where a child is taken or kept without lawful authority, as shown in O.C.G.A. § 16-5-40 and O.C.G.A. § 16-5-45 on Justia and Justia. Prosecutors will review the warrants and decide whether to move forward with formal charges…