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Federal Agents Find New Mexico Man That Fled To Atmore With Son
November 18, 2010
A man that fled New Mexico with his 6-year old son earlier this week has been located in Atmore with the assistance of federal agents.
Jacob Heath Sells, 27, and his son, Damien Sells, 6, were located Wednesday afternoon in Atmore by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to Dan Trujillon, public information officer with the Las Cruces (NM) Police Department.
Trujillo told NorthEscambia.com that Sells left New Mexico with his son after being served with a summons establishing a physical custody and visitation agreement with his ex-girlfriend. Las Cruces Police detectives learned that sometime between Sunday and Tuesday Jacob Sells quit his job at a Las Cruces hospital and informed his son’s school that boy wouldn’t be attending classes because of an illness.
The search for Sells and the 6-year old focused on the Atmore area where Sells has relatives, the New Mexico policeman said.
A New Mexico judge had approved an emergency motion that granted Sells’ ex-girlfriend with temporary custody of their son, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Jacob Sells.
But now criminal charges in New Mexico against Sells are expected to be dropped after Las Cruces Police investigators received information Wednesday that a court in Alabama had previously established a child custody plan.
“That warrant is expected to be quashed and the matter now appears to be a civil case,” Trujillo said.
Las Cruces is a town of about 90,000 about 45 miles of El Paso, Texas.
Comments
25 Responses to “Federal Agents Find New Mexico Man That Fled To Atmore With Son”
thank you thinker for your comment about terri sanders…having sex outside or marriage does not make them bad people they just have disagreements on the child. Once again I always tell people when you point one finger you have 3 pointing back at you.
To Dunno:
I was not implying that the mother lied, just that she possibly didn”t tell EVERYTHING.
If you read everything….there was already an order in effect in Ala. Most times, a person is asked (verbally and/or via documents) if there are any custody orders elsewhere. If the party is not truthful, to accomplish their task, then an order may be easier to obtain. Most states will not rule against another state unless, of course, there is domestic violence, or the like. I am a mother & was simply bringing another view point to light. Often people assume too much with too little information.
Again, if my child disappeared, for whatever reason, I would hope & pray the authorities would act as quickly as they did in this incident.
Who’s to say the mother isn’t telling the truth??
I think it’s unfortunate that this father (& son) have been subjected to these apparent ‘false accusations”, possibly due to the mother telling the authorities more than the actual truth. However, let’s not loose sight of the fact that had this situation unfolded as it first appeared, the actions taken may have saved that child’s life. There have been numerous stories involving distraught parents which end in tragedy. Quick response is often the only way to save lives.
I would much rather see an adult individual suffer embarassment & humiliation than an innocent child loose their life.
but do you really believe what they say, since you heard it from them?
People change and should be given the benefit of doubt. If the ones here that are making these comments, they would surely be singing s different tune. As they say, don’t believe anythng you hear and only half of what you see.
REGARDING:
“The real fault, in my personal opinion, lies with the court in New Mexico or someone’s lawyer. They should have known that Alabama had established a custody plan.”
I wonder if it is really a fault or simply an aspect of our federal system. The whole concept of government is that each state deals with its own affairs while respecting the other states and the federal government steps in on those things affecting the entire union–preferably seldom. I wouldn’t expect every court to keep up to date regarding every other court in the USA.
When the folks crossed state lines, the federal government would get involved especially here since it involved interstate disputes as to what rules of custody applied. Even so, it’s reasonable to expect it to take some time to straighten it all out.
By the way, I’m inclined to agree with Teri here; she well knows the potential harm done to children when the parents aren’t committed to them. It looks like two people were not legally or otherwise committed to each other and produced a child who has been tugged both ways by their disputes. They have the legal right to act that way, but they hurt others in the process. And yes, similar harm can be done by people divorcing but that is why the preachers and justices of the peace tend to remind those legally committing by marriage that it is not to be entered into lightly.
All this was solely their business up until they dragged the legal system into it.
David wishing the kid well
Neighbor, if this is your relative and the comments made here are offending you, why get on here and read them and upset yourself? forget the comments section is here and focus on your famiy. You know people are going to comment, so why torture yourself.
Man, I tell you what. Some of you need to get a job or find a hobby. If all you have to do is get on here and argue back and forth, we may need to turn our prayer’s toward you. Leave it alone and find something to do.
By the way, William, you do an outstanding job reporting stories and dont let the little minds of anyone discourage you. You do a GREAT job!
Amanda, that is not entirely true…there are MANY Atmore stories that William doesn’t report on. And that is no fault to William, Atmore just normally falls outside his reporting area. William does a great job…my hat is off to him…it just seems that this is a non-story. The NM authorities simply “are up in arms” when when they shouldn’t be…end of story. Put another way, if the NM authorities had done their job, this would NOT be a story!
IF Willaim hadn’t of reported this story and someone found out about it, they’d be screaming that he DIDN’T report it……LORD, it never ends does it???
Bame wrote;
But the problem there lies that when we report that authorities are looking for the man and his son for the reasons we established below, our only choice is to post the outcome.
Otherwise, we would have just deleted the story and the people would have called the police on Mr. Sells each time he was seen in public around Atmore with a child that he has every right to be with, according to the Alabama courts.
William wrote…”The real fault, in my personal opinion, lies with the court in New Mexico or someone’s lawyer. They should have known that Alabama had established a custody plan”.
I agree completely with this statement!! However, it still seems like AFTER it has been established that it is no longer “news” it would no longer be a “media” story. If for no other reason but for the sake of the kid.
This child is my nephew and I wish all of you would just stop worrying about making comments and just pray for everyone involved, especially Damien. I know everyone involved in this and believe me, everyone of them needs prayer instead of your opinions! I just pray that each one of them will look to the almighty Lord, Jesus Christ, and depend on him for strength and victory over the situation.
Bama wrote:
In general, I would agree — but not in this case. Warrants were issued for his arrest in New Mexico and authorities across the country. Las Cruces Police issued press releases that were ran by dozens of media outlets across the country (everything from daily newspapers to big TV stations from New Mexico to the Mobile Press Register) as local, state and federal authorities looked for Mr. Sells. The U.S. Marshals found him; that’s far beyond “let the families work out their differences”.
Las Cruces Police were concerned that he allegedly quit his job and pulled his son out of school. They were steps away from a nationwide Amber Alert and turned to the media.
It’s news, and we are certainly not going to ignore it.
The real fault, in my personal opinion, lies with the court in New Mexico or someone’s lawyer. They should have known that Alabama had established a custody plan.
I would wager that nine out of ten times the reason for snatching a child & taking them away from their other parent is to usurp control or is a get-even tactic. Rarely is the child’s best interest taken in to consideration. It’s the selfish parents…
So…this actually comes down to a civil matter (family issues) and should not be broadcast over this or any other website…Alabama already had a child custody plan and New Mexico tried to enforce a different custody plan…really makes it come down to NONE OF OUR BUSINESS…let the families work out their differences and issues.
One would have to be a prisoner of their own culture to understand the word sovereignty. And that there are differences in the way matters are handled. Alabama law or any other states law apply here only federal law.
To Thinker: I think “meforone” is just showing his/her ignorance in tribal politics before doing the research. I believe they are refering to the fact that the Tribe has gaming rights despite Alabama Law. The reason for this is because it is on Federal land and falls under Federal jurisdiction not State jurisdiction. So the “law of the land” lies with the United States Government.
I went to school with this guy….he was always in and out of trouble. I hope one day he can get straight to better his life and the life of his son.
Teri Sanders,
I basically agree with you, but your statement, “sex outside of marriage is wrong” is just naive. First, even with marriage there can be divorce…so how does that fix the child security issue? Let’s just boil it down to child bearing without parental commitment is wrong. Does that work for you?
Marriage can be common law, divorced parents can still be committed, if they avoid demonizing each other in the child’s presence (if at all). In this case we just don’t know enough details. But running is no answer. Let them subjugate their overly proud egos to a greater need (their child’s need for identity and security) and have the courage to go through the changes in their own characters and become more mature. Meditate on this, be at peace and love your mutual creation. A divorced parent’s support group is a good place to get help on this.
Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.
■meforone Can you explain your comment? Law of the land don’t apply???
Once again.it is the child who suffers the most.This time all because a couple were too caught up in hormonal surges to use birth control. And more importantly were having sex outside of the bonds of matrimony.Whether or not a person beleives in God,or His Holy Word that does not negate the fact that,sex outside of marriage is wrong.The price that will be paid for the rest of this childs life is a high one.
Sometmes the heart overrules the head in these situations.
Trying to get to the holy land just north of Atmore where the laws of the land don’t apply !