A Randolph County couple was arrested in South Carolina on Sunday after allegedly fleeing West Virginia with their child, over whom they did not have legal custody, according to authorities.
Darries L. Fauntleroy and Megan R. Fauntleroy, both 40, of Montrose, have been charged with felony conspiracy and taking a minor child from a custodian out of West Virginia, according to a press statement from the West Virginia State Police Elkins Detachment.
According to troopers, the seven-year-old child is in the custody of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. The Fauntleroys are the child’s biological parents, although neither supposedly has legal custody of him. According to troopers, Megan was not allowed to be there with the child.
According to WVDHHR, the couple took the child from the neighborhood and fled the state, making their way to South Carolina. After an investigation by WVSP, the US Marshals Service, and local South Carolina law enforcement, troopers confirmed the pair had been found.
Troopers claimed the couple was later apprehended in Kingstree, South Carolina, by authorities from the Kingstree Police Department, the Williamsburg County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Marshals Service, and they are currently awaiting extradition back to West Virginia.
Meanwhile, the child was securely located and is in the custody of the South Carolina Department of Social Services, awaiting safe repatriation to WVDHHR.