Mother, Daughter Reunited

A child at the center of a custody dispute is back home.

The disagreement started Sunday when Alma Antonio's estranged boyfriend contacted her. Raul Baltazar "indicated that he was about to be deported from the country and wanted to visit" with their daughter before that happened, said Sgt. Stacy Bailey, spokeswoman for the . 

Antonio agreed to a supervised visit, but when she met Baltazar at 10 a.m. Sunday, he allegedly reneged on that arrangement.

"Threats were made indicating that possible harm would come to Ms. Antonio’s other child who was currently living outside the United States if Ms. Antonio did not allow Mr. Baltazar to take the child for unsupervised visitation," Bailey said. "Believing the threat credible, based on prior behavior exhibited by Mr. Baltazar, Ms. Antonio agreed to allow an unsupervised visit under the condition that the child be returned to her after a couple of hours."

But the girl was not returned at the agreed upon time, and Antonio made "repeated attempts" to reach Baltazar before calling police at 10:04 p.m., Bailey said.

"In an attempt to determine where the suspect may be hiding with the child, a search was conducted and officers were able to locate a residence in Canton belonging to a cousin," she said. "Inside the residence officers located seven males and two females along with the missing child and her abductor." 

Baltazar was arrested on a charge of interference with custody, and the child was returned to her mother, Bailey said.

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