Colo. Mom Who Lost Custody of Son Allegedly Teamed with Far-Right Conspiracy Theorists to Kidnap Him
A Colorado mom is facing a criminal charge for allegedly plotting with members of a far-right conspiracy group to kidnap a child that had been removed from her custody.
Cynthia Abcug had “lots of weapons in her home” and had partnered in the alleged kidnap plan with those who believe in QAnon, which imagines a supposed plot by an alleged “deep state” against President Donald Trump and his supporters, according to an arrest warrant.
In addition to the weapons described by another of Abcug’s children, a daughter who was living with her mother in Parker, Colorado, “an armed man” was sharing the residence with them and “the man had a plan to kidnap Abcug’s other child,” the daughter alleged to a caseworker, according to the warrant, reports Denver TV station KUSA.
The daughter further alleged to the caseworker that she “could not understand why her mother did not see how this was a bad thing,” according to the warrant.
Abcug, 50, was picked up December 30 in Kalispell, Montana, on the warrant out of Colorado seeking her arrest, reports the Flathead Beacon.
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The warrant, which had been issued in September, alleged that Abcug and an unnamed man had planned to kidnap a child in October, and that Abcug had been practicing shooting at a gun range to prepare for a “raid” to grab the child, according to the warrant.
She faces one felony count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, Vikki Migoya, a spokesman for the Douglas County, Colorado, district attorney’s office, confirms to PEOPLE.
The target of the alleged kidnap attempt was a son who previously had been taken from Abcug by child welfare officials, said the daughter, reports The Washington Post.
The case against Abcug began to take shape after the daughter expressed her concerns to the caseworker, and was herself removed from Abcug’s home.
The son previously was removed, according to the warrant from Parker police, after child protective services workers raised concern that he was a possible victim of Munchausen by proxy, a form of abuse in which a caregiver fabricates an illness or injury to someone in their care to elicit sympathy for themselves, reports the Post.
After the child was removed, according to the Post, Abcug appeared on fringe YouTube shows, and claimed in one September video that child protective services “has child trafficking rings in certain areas.”
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The daughter alleged her mother had stopped attending therapy sessions, “had gotten into some conspiracy theories” and was “spiraling down,” according to the warrant, reports KUSA.
The daughter she believed the “raid” to take the other child would be carried out by QAnon members, and that “people would be injured in the raid” because “those people are evil Satan worshipers,” states the warrant, according to KUSA.
On conservative websites and on other outlets affiliated with QAnon, Abcug, a mother of four, said she’d moved to Colorado to seek medical help for her 7-year-old son, later claiming that she’d concluded the state had taken her child “illegally,” according to the Post.
Abcug has since posted bond following her arrest.
A message left by PEOPLE for Abcug requesting comment was not immediately returned, and it could not be determined if she has an attorney to represent her.
