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Police: Amber Alert for 2 Ontario boys is over

The search for two young boys abducted from a Kingston Children's Aid office ended Monday afternoon in the Town of Markham, northeast of Toronto. A sharp-eyed citizen recognized the abductor's vehicle from an online news report and phoned police, ending an Amber Alert issued earlier in the day.

The motorist spotted the wanted car just after 3 p.m., in the area of Markham Rd. and Steeles Ave. E., and followed it as he called 911, York Regional Police Sgt. Laurie Perks said.

"Our officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the gentleman without incident," Perks said, explaining the silver Chrysler was pulled over in the area of Hwy. 7 and Donald Cousens Pkwy, about 8 km from where it was first spotted and 250 km from Kingston.

"The children were in the car and they were uninjured," she added.

Perks said the man was taken into custody and charged with two counts of parental abduction and assault with a weapon.

The toddlers were placed in the care of Markham Children's Aid Society until they can be returned to Kingston CAS, Perks said.

She was unable to say if the accused father, who will remain in custody in Markham until Kingston police pick him up, was armed with mace when he was arrested.

The Frontenac County Children's Aid Society is defending its security after the man, having a supervised access visit with his children, abducted them from the agency's Montreal Street offices.

"Unfortunately something went wrong," said Yvonne Cooper, communications co-ordinator for the society.

"I don't know specifically what happened." Police say a CAS worker was threatened with mace.

Cooper said the society was providing services to the family and a supervised access visit was taking place.

Two staff members were involved.

"We've got security in the building but you never know what is going to happen," she said. "We take every precaution that we possibly can to make sure that our staff and our families and our children are looked after, that they are safe."

Cooper said that supervised visits take place in a room that is monitored by video camera and through a window from which staff can watch.

She said someone was watching this visit but she couldn't say what happened when the parent began to leave with the children.

"I don't know because I'm not sure specifically at what point in the visit it happened," she said. Cooper said staff would have tried to intervene.

"I don't know specifically what transpired there but Š they knew something was wrong and this wasn't going the way it was supposed to, so our staff did what they could and called the police as well," she said.

Cooper said commissionaires are on duty at the society's office building, which it shares with the City of Kingston. It also has a number of alarmed emergency exits.

"We do not have armed security staff at our building," she said.

Kingston Police issued their first Amber Alert in the department's history after the two boys were taken from the Children's Aid office at about 9:30 a.m..

The alert, which employs a provincial notification system, swiftly spread word of the abduction to news agencies, police and other organizations across the province. The alert was cancelled when the boys were found just after 3 p.m..

Sgt. Steve Montpetit said he quickly notified provincial police in Quebec about the Kingston case, out of concern that the father might drive to a Montreal-area airport.

Police said the father had come from Saskatchewan for the supervised visit and may have attempted to return there.

Cooper said the situation would be reviewed.

"It doesn't necessarily mean that Š our security's not good or anything like that," Cooper said. "What it means is Š we had a circumstance that we have to look at to see what we can do to make sure that it doesn't happen again." Guidelines for issuing Amber Alerts provide that there must be concern that a child is in danger.

"We use Amber Alert any time we feel that there is jeopardy or danger for the children," said Montpetit, the OPP officer based in Orillia who co-ordinates the program.

"Whether it's a parent abduction or a non-parental, just a family friend or even an unknown, we utilize the Amber Alert for those." Montpetit said the system was reviewed last year, in an effort to simplify the process, but it is still used infrequently. He estimated that there have been four alerts issued since last October.

He said police can contact his office about issuing an alert in any abduction involving a child when they have information either about the child, the abductor or the vehicle.

Police: Amber Alert for 2 Ontario boys is over
By ROB TRIPP and CHRIS DOUCETTE, QMI Agency