LONGVIEW, WA (KPTV) -
A man accused of kidnapping his 8-month-old son, triggering an Amber Alert Friday morning, took the boy while his grandparents prepared to ask a judge for custody of the child, according to their lawyer.
Troopers spotted the 2012 Nissan Altima rental car driven by Ismail Hashem on Interstate 5 near Wilsonville at 1 p.m. Friday, four hours after police said he took the child from Longview.
Troopers then stopped the car at a gas station parking lot on Southwest 95th and Boones Ferry Road, just off the highway.
Hashem, who also goes by the name Soma, has been taken to jail on a fugitive from justice charge. A felony warrant was issued for his arrest on burglary and assault charges related to this case.
Police said the child was found safe inside the vehicle. Arrangements are being made to get the baby back to Longview with his grandparents.
Another person in the car was also detained by police. Joseph Leyva, 30, of Kelso was wanted on a felony warrant out of Lewis County on escape charges.
The baby's maternal grandparents had filed a motion seeking temporary custody of him earlier this summer. The boy was taken while grandmother Bridget Piper and the boy's mother, Kendra Swanger, were at the Cowlitz County courthouse for a court hearing regarding the case.
According to investigators, Hashem took the boy from a 14-year-old babysitter, ran out of the house and drove off.
"It happened while I was in here," Swanger said Friday afternoon at the courthouse. "I don't know anything about it."
A judge granted the child's grandparents temporary custody and granted a motion for a restraining order, barring Hashem and Swanger from contacting their son or his grandparents.
In court documents, family members detail concerns about Swanger and Hashem's ability to care for their son due to drug use.
"At this time, neither Kendra nor Soma is capable of making responsible decisions or choices for themselves, let alone for their growing infant," a relative, Judy Willman, wrote in a statement filed with the court.
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