Pendleton woman charged with kidnapping
Nov. 4—ANDERSON — A Pendleton woman has been returned to Madison County from Florida on a charge of kidnapping.
Ashley Laing, 34, has been charged with felony counts of kidnapping and interference with custody.
She is being detained at the Madison County jail on a $10,000 full cash bond because Laing is considered a flight risk.
Madison County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the 7800 block of South Rosebud Drive in Pendleton to take a report of a missing child on Oct. 20.
The complainant, who is the father of the 3-year-old child, told officers the child's mother, Laing, had not given him the child and was in violation of a recent child custody order providing him with full custody.
The child custody order was issued in Madison County Circuit Court Division 3 on Oct. 18. The father suspected Laing left the state with the child in her red 2018 Chevy Cruze.
Deputy Grant Stephens in the probable cause affidavit stated deputies were dispatched on Oct. 18 to the Pendleton address with the father to take custody that evening.
Stephens went to Laing's mother's address and was told by the mother that Laing was terrified of the girl's father.
Contact was made with Laing by telephone where she told Stephens she was not even in the same country.
With the assistance of AT&T, Stephens was able to locate Laing in at a motel in Clearwater, Florida.
With the assistance of the Clearwater Police Department, she was taken into custody. The child was found unharmed.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
