PORT ANGELES — A report of a child abduction at a gas station Monday that triggered a multi-agency kidnapping alert turned out to be a custody dispute, and no child was in danger, according to police.
“It was a custodial situation,” said Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck of the Port Angeles Police Department.
The names of the individuals involved in the dispute will not be released because the situation was a civil matter, and an investigation showed that no laws were broken, Roggenbuck said.
At about 9:45 a.m. Monday, PenCom, the Clallam County 9-1-1 dispatch center, received a call from the Texaco gas station at the corner of South Lincoln and East First streets reporting a possible kidnapping after a woman at the service station screamed for help and said someone had taken her child. She then left the station.
Port Angeles police notified the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and other local agencies, putting law enforcement officers on the alert for a possible kidnapped child.
After talking to witnesses and working with the Sheriff’s Office, police were able to locate the people involved.
The investigation found that the parents have shared custody, and the child was safe with the father.
“Child custody matters occur every day. They don’t usually become as public as this,” Roggenbuck said.
