A kidnapped infant has been recovered by authorities in the Pine Belt, and one man has been taken into custody for snatching the child.
The Forrest County Sheriff’s Office reports that deputies found the six-month-old child, who had been reported missing, Sunday morning in the south part of the county.
According to a statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, an Amber Alert was issued for the female after she was taken from her mother who was shopping in Walmart on Highway 49 in Magee.
The suspect, 55-year-old James Johnson, reportedly took the baby to his ex-wife’s house in Petal for the night and then asked his stepson to drive him to the coast.
Deputies say the stepson’s mother called and told him the baby was kidnapped, so he stopped at the Circle K in Brooklyn and alerted the clerk who called law enforcement in Forrest County.
The baby is currently being treated at a local hospital. Johnson has been booked under “fugitive other jurisdiction” on a kidnapping charge out of Magee.
