Last week, eight children under the custody of the city Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) were taken by their biological parents during a supervised visit at a Forest Hills childcare facility.
The NYPD and FBI organized a frantic search effort, and on Monday, the parents and eight children were found in Pennsylvania.
Shanel Nadal, 28, and Nephra Payne, 34, are accused of concocting a plot to take back their children, who were placed in three different foster homes after a domestic violence allegation. On Monday, September 19, Nadal visited the children at Forestdale Agency and sneaked the children out of the building.
Nadal and Payne reportedly visited South Carolina before driving back north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. NYPD officers and US Marshalls found and arrested the two parents shortly after 10 p.m. Monday night. The family had been hiding in a Ford van, which authorities said was in an unhygienic condition.
Queens District Attorney Brown announced that the parents would be charged with kidnapping, custodial interference and endangering the welfare of a child.
“This is a sad story of a mother and father who have jeopardized their children’s safety by allegedly kidnapping them and taking them out of state,” Brown said. “These parents have now also put at risk the very relationships they were supposed to be building with their children during their supervised visits. Kidnapping and endangering children is a serious matter that will not be taken lightly.”
However, the two parents said they had a justified reason for taking their children.
“The children were sexually molested while in the care of the city,” the couple’s lawyer Norman Steiner told the New York Daily News. “You can’t blame the parents for acting in the children’s best interest. It’s a shame that the city failed them.”
The children were placed with local childcare agencies until they can be brought back to New York. Nadal and Payne had seven boys, all named Nephra Payne, ranging from one to 12 years old, and an 11-month-old girl named Nefertiti Payne.
By Eric Yun
