Published on Sunday, June 24, 2007
in the Charlotte Sun-Herald

Troopers arrest parent on kidnap charge

Florida Highway Patrol apprehended a noncustodial father Saturday afternoon as he was driving north with his 5-year-old daughter.

According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, troopers arrested Robert R. Burton, 33, of Greenville, S.C. who had his daughter in the back seat of his SUV.

The daughter, who lives in Fort Myers, is legally in the custody of her mother.

Officers reported seeing Burton's vehicle being operated recklessly northbound on I-75 near the 186 mile marker. The vehicle exited at mile 193 and pulled into a gas station. A trooper learned that Burton's license had been suspended, and told him he was not permitted to drive.

Burton said he tried to reach the child's mother but could not. The trooper then tried to call the mother, and was told by a woman who answered the phone at her home that the mother was at that time filing a child abduction report with the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

The trooper placed Burton under arrest and charged him with kidnapping by the noncustodial parent.