Police: Baby kidnapped from King of Prussia Mall found safe
A woman is in custody in the abduction of a baby boy who was taken from the King of Prussia Mall and later found safe after an Amber Alert set off cell phones throughout the region.
A woman is in custody in the abduction of a baby boy who was taken from the King of Prussia Mall and later found safe after an Amber Alert set off cell phones throughout the region.
Her name has not been released yet and no charges have been announced.
The infant, Ahsir Simmons, was reunited with his tearful mother more than five hours he was taken from the mall Thursday afternoon.
Upper Merion Police Chief Thomas Nolan said the woman befriended the infant's family and spent some time with them in the mall before they went to the food court.
While there, the baby got fussy in his stroller and the woman asked if she could hold the boy, Nolan said.
The mother said OK and while she was distracted by a phone call and other children with her, the woman walked off with the baby, Nolan said.
At 5:35 p.m. police received a call that the infant had been abducted and started searching vehicles leaving the mall.
NBC10 reporter Monique Braxton, who had been at the mall, said she was among those who had been stopped and had her car checked.
A check of surveillance video showed a woman walking out of the mall near Bonefish Grill with the baby and police issued an Amber Alert about 9:30 p.m.
The alert and a photo of the baby exploded on social media and at 10:30 p.m. police reported the infant had been found safe in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, after a number of tips had been received.
After the baby was returned to his mother, she tearfully told 6ABC: "I would like to thank God for allowing my baby to come back. And, I want to thank the Upper Merion Police Department, and everybody on social media that helped me get my baby back. I want to thank you so much."
The boy's grandfather, Burdette Lewis, said the abductor might have "have a mental problem."
"She might have had a child, and lost her child," he told 6ABC. "It is something wrong."
Abductions by strangers and Amber Alerts are both relatively rare.
Just 1 percent of missing children are considered "nonfamily abductions," according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The vast majority of children reported missing – 86 percent, according to the center's data – are runaways, while about 10 percent are abducted by family members.
The Amber Alert program has been in effect since 1996. Since then, about 800 children have been rescued as a result of the alerts, according to the Department of Justice.
The alerts, which can be issued in cases of either family or stranger abductions, are only distributed if specific criteria are met. Those include: reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred, belief that the child is in danger and enough descriptive information about the victim and incident for a public alert to help authorities locate the child and suspect, Department of Justice guidelines say.
In 2014, the most recent year for which figures were available, 186 Amber Alerts involving 239 children were issued nationwide. Just three alerts were issued in Pennsylvania that year, while two were posted in New Jersey.
215-854-5983@RobertMoran215