Alleged child abduction may be false alarm
A day after putting out an alert about a possible child abduction involving a 2-year-old boy at the hands of his father, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday it appeared the matter may not be a crime after all.
The sheriff’s office on Monday put out an announcement seeking public help finding Joseph D. Long, who was thought to be in the custody of his biological father, David D. Wanzer.
But Capt. Tim Byers of the sheriff’s office said Tuesday it appeared the matter was a civil child-custody dispute stemming from Oklahoma. He said the family turned to law enforcement to resolve the matter, and that the confusion was due in part to paperwork in the child-custody case that hadn’t been completed.
“It hasn’t been determined that there’s any criminal activity,” Byers said.