Police locate three missing brothers, arrest their mother
By Ari Hait
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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (WPBF) — West Palm Beach police Thursday arrested the mother of three boys who had been missing for more than a week.
Maria Perez is charged with three counts of interference with custody.
Police say they tracked her to a home inside the Casa del Monte community in unincorporated West Palm Beach.
“She went back inside, and that’s when they approached her,” said Mike Jachles, public information officer for the West Palm Beach police. “They knocked on the door. She was inside at the time. She answered the door and surrendered without any resistance.”
Police had been searching for Perez since May 8.
That’s when her three sons went missing.
The boys had been staying with their uncle, who was their legal guardian, but he died last week.
Police said the boys then took a ride share to meet their mother, who had lost custody of the children years earlier.
Jachles said police reassured Perez they wouldn’t arrest her as long as she let them check to make sure the boys were OK, but he said she kept avoiding them.
“Detectives talked to her at the police department, and her explanation was she was scared,” Jachles said.
Jachles said the boys are all healthy and are now in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.
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