SAN ANTONIO – A woman was arrested after abducting her child, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
Lelia Brooke Strain, 30, had arranged a meet-up in San Antonio to visit with her child and his father, BCSO said. During the visit, Strain ran off with her 2-year-old child, according to her arrest affidavit.
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Afterward, the father tried to communicate with Strain through phone calls and text messages, but she was difficult to reach, BCSO said.
A week later, the affidavit stated that Strain said she would return her child to his father, but she never did.
A boyfriend of Strain had told the child’s father that she relocated to Louisiana with the child, the affidavit said.
Strain had allegedly had the child since June 2022 following the abduction.
The child had previously been removed from Strain’s custody after she found the 2-year-old unconscious from ingesting heroin, BCSO said. When authorities later tested the child’s urine, it was positive for opiates and amphetamines, the affidavit said.
In June 2021 during an interview with the New Orleans police, Strain admitted to being a recovering heroin addict and breastfeeding her child while using drugs, the affidavit said.
Strain was formerly arrested, and a court granted the Department of Children and Family Services to remove the child from her, according to BCSO.
A Louisiana Court had ordered that the father have sole custody of the child before the kidnapping, the affidavit said.
Strain was ordered by the court to have no communication with her child until she petitions in front of the court at a later date, BCSO said.
The affidavit said Strain is charged with kidnapping, a 3rd-degree felony.