Published: August 07, 2008 12:48 pm            

5 children reported kidnapped in Houston

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities searched Wednesday for five children they say were abducted by a woman who took the Louisiana family in after Hurricane Katrina.

The woman, Rhonda Tavey, told Dallas television station WFAA that she had taken the children for their own safety.

The Harris County District Attorney's office charged Tavey, 44, with five counts of kidnapping. Spokeswoman Donna Hawkins told The Associated Press constables had contacted Tavey's attorney before filing charges against her on Monday but the woman refused to return the children.

An Amber Alert was issued Wednesday for the children, two boys and three girls ranging in age from 3 to 8. Tavey is not considered to be armed or dangerous, Hawkins said.

"Obviously the Amber Alert was our first method to try to locate the children, and that is our first priority," she said.

Tavey told The Dallas Morning News that she plans to turn herself in as soon as she talks to her attorney. No lawyer for Tavey could immediately be located by The Associated Press. Hawkins said she did not know the name of Tavey's attorney.

Tavey told WFAA earlier Wednesday in Fort Worth, before the Amber Alert was issued, that the children's "parents are into drugs, crime and I know God put these kids into my hands to take care of."

"My whole thing is the safety and well-being of the kids is number one," Tavey told WFAA. "And that's why I've taken the efforts I have to remove them from all of that harm and hurt toward them."

Prosecutors say Tavey was a volunteer after Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast in August 2005. She opened her home to the children and their mother, Erica Alphonse.

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Jane Waters, chief of the family criminal law division, told the Houston Chronicle "they were all one big happy family" before Alphonse made a call to the Harris County Constables office July 13.

Constable spokesman Capt. Paul Staton said Alphonse called the precinct "to report an acquaintance of hers was being reluctant to let her see her own children," the newspaper reported.

"Basically, she took in the family, including the mom, and then when it came time for her to give the kids back to their mom she refused and she left the area," Waters told the paper.

The Morning News, in November 2006, did a story about Tavey and Alphonse and how the Houston woman was helping the displaced New Orleans native and her children.

A statement from prosecutors says Tavey has taken Alphonse's children out of the Houston area and "has refused to return them to their mother."

A warrant for Tavey, who is white, was issued Monday.

The children, who are black, are identified as:

— Rod Keesa Alphonse, age 8,

— Alaysa Alphonse, age 6

— Yasmine Alphonse, age 4

— and twin boys, Eric and Erin Alphonse, who turned 3 on Monday.

Tavey is believed to be driving a blue 2004 Chrysler Town and Country Van, Texas License: 963-PTB. Officials say Tavey may be in the Dallas area.

        

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