HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Alabama's Department of Human Resources is working with Georgia officials to return four children found in Huntsville after an Amber Alert issued out of Rome, Georgia.
The four children are currently in DHR custody after Huntsville police found them Sunday night with Walter Antonio Ventura Torres who is suspected of kidnapping them from their parents in Northwest Georgia according to police in Rome.
"We're grateful the way it turned out," said Rome Police Capt. Terry Autry. "We were afraid the kids could have been killed."
Huntsville police recovered the four children who ranged in age from ten months to four years old after arresting kidnapping suspect Walter Antonio Ventura Torres Sunday night at a gas station in the 4200 block of Bob Wallace Avenue.
Torres is being held in the Madison County jail until he can be returned to Rome, GA where police said he faces four counts of kidnapping and one count of theft for allegedly stealing the car from his victims' parents.
Autry said police were not contacted about the kidnapping right away because the parents and the suspect had been doing drugs. The children's parents are being charged with reckless endangerment according to Rome, GA police.We don't have a clue what his motive was," said Capt. Autry.
Once the Amber Alert went out, police uncovered information that Torres and the young children were in Alabama. A phone call investigators were able to trace confirmed the location. Investigators in Rome, GA contacted Huntsville police who had already been called about reports of young children begging for money in a parking lot.
"We appreciate the Huntsville Police Department," said Capt. Autry. "They were an enormous help."
"Luckily the officers didn't just use that as a standard call. They found out the car was stolen, they ran him through NCIC and found this related back to the Amber Alert out of Rome Georgia," said Sgt. Mark Roberts of the Huntsville Police Department.
Torres is being held in the Madison County Jail until he is extradited back to Georgia. Meantime the four children are in DHR custody.
Alabama officials are working with Georgia Human Resources to return them.
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