Pair arrested in child stealing case
A woman who had been caring for two children that weren’t hers was arrested Thursday, accused of taking the children after their biological mother sought help from a state agency to get them back.
Carey Ann Johnson took an 11-year-old girl and a 10-month-old boy from a home in southeast Oklahoma City and fled in a black sport utility vehicle, Oklahoma City Police reported.
Police were notified that Johnson, 44, had fled Oklahoma City, but were later told she was returning. About 11:40 p.m. Thursday, officers located the vehicle near Interstate 40 and Choctaw Road.
After pulling the vehicle over, officers arrested Johnson and Michael Henry Coulter, 50, who was in possession of a firearm. The children also were in the vehicle and were unharmed. They were taken into custody by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, said Master Sgt. Gary Knight.
Johnson was booked into the Oklahoma County jail and is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail on a complaint of child stealing. Coulter was booked into the jail on complaints of child stealing and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. He is being held in lieu of $54,000 bail.
On Thursday, a caseworker was scheduled to pick the children up from a home in the 800 block of SE 43 after a judge ordered Johnson to relinquish custody of the children, according to a court affidavit.
The caseworker called police after she was unable to find Johnson or the children and was told by Johnson that, “if I can’t have the kids, then she can’t either,” referring to the children’s biological mother.
The mother told investigators that she felt manipulated by Johnson to sign a document stating Johnson could have care over the children. Johnson reportedly told the mother that she had been deemed an unfit mother by DHS and that she would keep the children, according to the affidavit.
The mother began working with DHS to regain custody of the children and provided text messages between her and Johnson, including messages which told the mother to not cooperate with caseworkers.
Knight described Johnson as a friend of the children’s family and that she had been looking after the children for some time when she decided to flee with them. The relationship between the children and Coulter is unknown.