Update on 2-year-old abducted by dad during police standoff; toddler recovered, but why did dad with history of felony arrests have joint custody? (Topeka, Kansas)

We've posted before on this case, and it just gets more bizarre.

Once again, we see why Shawnee County, Kansas is one of the worst places in the country for protecting/coddling abusive fathers and stomping on the rights of women and children.

Some salient points here:

1) Earlier articles reported the facts about the mother being locked out of her house, with Dad and the little girl inside. The mother and the father were no longer a couple and lived in separate homes. Dad apparently slipped out the back with the girl during the 4-hour police standoff. Even the usually clueless neighbors reported that Dad was verbally abusive and controlling. Yet the Topeka Police REFUSED to issue an Amber Alert.

2) Now we find out that it was worse that that. Dad has a CRIMINAL RECORD.

--He was arrested in May in connection with one felony count of criminal threat and one misdemeanor charge of criminal carrying a weapon. -

--And in November 2013, he pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of attempted criminal damage to property. His 30-day sentence in jail was suspended for probation.

In other words, this a potentially dangerous man, and yet it was okay for him to take off with a two-year-old child??? While the fathers-rights controlled police department silently cheered him on?

3) And yet DESPITE this criminal record, Dad had apparently been previously awarded joint custody--presumably thoroughly the thoroughly corrupted Shawnee County Family Court, which has yet to see a dangerous violent father who can't be awarded "his rights."

4) Notice that Daddy doesn't even have any interest in regular visitation or meaningful time with the child, and has never demonstrated any interest through his actions. He just wants to bully his way into Mom's house uninvited and take off with the baby when he feels like it. This is obviously all about coercive control and punishing the mother for leaving him. And yet the authorities don't care about this either.

5) Because of police inaction/craven indifference, Mom had to do her own detective work and hunt down her daughter HERSELF. All while she is being crapped on by the local media, including the fathers rights people who dominate and control the comment sections.

6) Notice that Daddy had disguised the gender of the little girl. And that doesn't speak of suspicious intentions? Just a little visit with his kid? Bull crap.

Dad is identified as TREVOR HUGHES.

http://m.cjonline.com/news/2014-07-21/topeka-mother-recounts-terror-time-spent-without-daughter?v=%3Cem%3E6%20min%2025%20sec%3C%2Fem%3E%20ago

Monday, July 21, 2014

Topeka mother recounts terror of time spent without daughter

By Aly Van Dyke

MEGAN HART/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Topeka police officers Saturday surround a home in the 2600 block of S.W. Valley Brook Lane, where a man was believed to be armed and holding his young daughter hostage.

Topekan Alisha Marie Quigley spent most of Saturday and all of Sunday fighting back fear and anger: Her daughter’s father had taken their little girl from her home and was threatening not to give her back.

“I was very worried,” Quigley said Monday. “I had no idea what to do. Part of me wondered if I’d ever get her back, and I feel like he doesn’t care, like he’s more concerned with getting away than he is about Ambree.”

After they were reunited late Sunday, she said, Ambree, who turns 2 on Thursday, wouldn’t let her out of her sight.

“We’re really good,” Quigley said. “(Ambree) was just very exhausted yesterday.”

After a four-hour standoff with an empty house and nearly 24 hours of no action, Quigley took matters into her own hands. Late Sunday evening, she traveled to Lawrence, where she knew the father, Trevor Hughes, was keeping Ambree. She was asked to leave the property, which she said is located in the 2300 block of 24th Street, but caught a glimpse of Hughes and Ambree from a neighbor’s yard.

“That’s the point where I kind of went crazy,” Quigley admitted.

Eventually, Hughes’ family brought Ambree to her. The first thing she noticed was that her little girl was dressed like a little boy. Quigley last saw her wearing blue shorts with white flowers and a navy blue shirt, according to a Facebook post.

Topeka police at 10:50 p.m. Sunday confirmed the girl had been located.

This series of events has played out since about noon Saturday, when Topeka police officers engaged in a four-hour standoff with what ultimately was an empty house in the 2600 block of S.W. Valley Brook Lane.

Hughes on Monday continued to defend himself on his Facebook page, claiming he returned his child when his “time was up like was planned” and accused people of blowing things out of proportion and spreading “crazy lies” because he wouldn’t give up his time with his daughter.

“Lol most definitely didn’t kidnap my daughter,” he posted after 11 a.m. Monday. “It’s not kidnapping when I have custody of her also.”

Quigley argued the couple hasn’t had scheduled visitation rights since they split up last September. He will randomly call or drop by her house to see Ambree, she said, but he doesn’t have any means to take care of her.

“He doesn’t have any weekend with her,” Quigley said. “There’s no scheduling. Every time there’s something bad that happens.”

Hughes and Quigley had Ambree on July 24, 2012, but the couple split up this past September, she said.

Shawnee County District Court records show Hughes was arrested in May in connection with one felony count of criminal threat and one misdemeanor charge of criminal carrying a weapon.

The case hasn’t been updated since April 29, a month after he was scheduled to have a pretrial conference. “This case is not closed or resolved,” said Cathy Leonhart, the Third Judicial District’s court administrator. “There just isn’t a future setting at this point.”

On Nov. 12, 2013, he pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of attempted criminal damage to property. His 30-day sentence in jail was suspended for probation.

Quigley was subpoenaed in both cases.

Tired of Hughes’ unannounced visits, Quigley was moving from her home Saturday, when he came by once again.

Quigley claims Hughes eventually locked her out of her home using furniture to barricade the door. She called the police.

Topeka police were called about noon Saturday to the 2600 block of S.W. Valley Brook Lane, after a Quigley reportedly said Hughes was inside her house with the toddler, Lt. Shane Lind said Saturday.

Police surrounded the house and attempted negotiations for four hours, eventually finding it to be empty. At the time, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Lind said there were no signs of foul play, but authorities were determining whether the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert had been met.

That was at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Quigley waited more than one day before she went to Lawrence herself. She said she believes Hughes used the chaos of the police cars arriving to escape both Saturday in Topeka and Sunday in Lawrence.

Quigley is set to go to the police department Tuesday to file a protection from abuse order, she said. As far as she knows, no charges have been filed against her, and they are still pending for Hughes.

“(The officers said) there’s always two sides to a story,” she said. “They want to talk to him before issuing anything.”

Topeka police have remained mostly silent on the issue since Sunday. They released a brief, two sentence news release sent at 10:50 p.m. Sunday confirming the child had been located. Cpt. Scott Conklin on Monday afternoon explained no Amber Alert was issued because it didn’t fit the Kansas Bureau of Investigation requirements for one.

Multiple attempts to ascertain more details from the police department went unanswered Monday. They have yet to confirm any names, which have been reported in news media since late Saturday, and they haven’t said whether they still are searching for Hughes.

Friends and family continue to reassure Quigley that Ambree is too young to remember what happened, but Quigley isn’t so sure.

“I don’t see how she wouldn’t see it as not being scary,” she said.

As for the Ambree’s birthday plans Thursday, Quigley said, they probably will have a family party to celebrate.