Missing brothers found safe in North Carolina, father headed to jail, cops say
Sharing what it called “great news,” a police department in Maine reported that two missing boys were found safe in North Carolina Tuesday.
The Presque Isle Police Department said the children, and their father, Joel Strother, were located in N.C., in a Facebook post.
Strother was arrested and taken to an area jail, police said in the post.
“We had a very happy outcome!” police said on Facebook, without adding where in North Carolina Strother and the boys were found.
Police suspected the two missing brothers, 10 and 12, might have been in Florida after their father took them from a small town in northern Maine.
Strother took the boys and left Maine, violating a custody agreement, according to police.
“We have...reason to believe that Mr. Strother has both children with him and has taken the children to Florida,” police said in a previous Facebook post. “As of late last week a felony level warrant was issued for the arrest of Joel Strother, which he is aware of.”
“We have had a phone conversation with their father who is refusing to cooperate with Law Enforcement,” police said in a post Monday.
In a separate post Monday, police said, “We have reason to believe the children have been taken out of state against their will and may possibly be in North Carolina or South Carolina.”
“He has violated the custody agreement,” Detective Chris Beck said, according to the Bangor Daily News.
“He has basically hidden the children. There has been no communication from Mr. Strother or from the two children to their mother,” Beck told the newspaper.
This story was originally published April 30, 2019 at 11:14 AM.
