The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Local News

November 11, 2009

<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/policeandfire.gif" border=0 > Washburn woman faces charge in custody case

WASHBURN, Mo. — A rural Washburn woman turned herself in to authorities Monday after being charged in a child-custody case.

The McDonald County Sheriff’s Department issued an endangered-person advisory last week for Rebecca Marie Allen, 8. The girl’s mother, Teresa Lynn Allen, 39, also known as Teresa L. Gantt, was suspected of having taken the girl Oct. 31. A warrant for arrest was issued last week.

Sheriff Robert Evenson said Allen turned herself in Monday, and that her daughter was placed in protective custody. Allen was taken into custody and then released from jail on her own recognizance, the sheriff said.

A charge of parental kidnapping, a Class D felony, filed last week against Allen remains in effect. A hearing date has not been set, according to online court records.

Evenson said his understanding was that the daughter had been returned Tuesday to the custody of her father, Bobby J. Allen Jr., of Cassville.

Bobby Allen had been awarded sole custody of Rebecca in an Oct. 27 ruling by a Barry County judge, according to the probable-cause affidavit filed in the case against Teresa Allen.

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