A 2-year-old girl’s mother and her friend were charged Friday with abducting the toddler at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Garden Grove this week.
Ileane Unique Shelton, 21, the girl’s mother, was charged with kidnapping a child and child stealing by a non-custodial person, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of battery and child abuse and endangerment. Her companion, 21-year-old Kweli Israel Murphy, was charged with kidnapping a child, child stealing by a non-custodial person and illegal use of tear gas, all felonies, as well as two misdemeanor counts of battery and a count of child abuse and endangerment.
Authorities said the girl was taken about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday during a visitation supervised by a social worker.
Shelton was scheduled to meet with the social worker and her daughter at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant at 13101 Harbor Blvd. about 11 a.m., Garden Grove police Lt. Nick Jensen said.
But just as the meeting was about to happen, a male suspect approached and pepper-sprayed the social worker, Jensen said. Shelton and the male suspect then took the girl and fled in a Toyota Rav4 driven by another suspect, he said.
The California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert in response to the girl’s disappearance.
Tips from the public and other investigative leads and work with other law enforcement agencies led to police finding the girl just before 4 p.m., safe in a Palm Springs bus station, Jensen said.