MONROE, N.C. — A 7-year-old boy is back with his mother but his father is behind bars. Police said the father abducted the boy from his day care.
Managers at Childtime Learning Center said they had no reason not to allow Ethan Tejada to leave with his father because he had done so many times before.
But police said on Wednesday, Ethan was abducted by his father and the two ended up in Virginia.
Monroe police began searching for Ethan later that night. They said his father, Carlos Tejada, 23, abducted Ethan minutes after the boy arrived at day care.
The boy got off the bus at about 2:30 p.m. at Childtime Learning Center on North Charlotte Avenue and his father was waiting for him, according to police.
Ethan's mother has full custody of the boy, but police said that didn't stop Carlos Tejada from picking him up.
In fact, he told day care workers he was taking his son to a doctor's appointment but instead took him to Virgina, authorities said.
"We were on the phone with him a lot of the day yesterday after this happened and convinced him to turn his car around, get back on the road," Pete Hovanec, with the City of Monroe, said.
They did not issue an amber alert for Ethan because they were in contact with his father and didn't feel the boy was in any danger, police said.
After several hours, Carlos Tejada agreed to meet them in Fayetteville with Ethan, where the father was arrested, police said.
Ethan was returned to his mother, safe.
Carlos Tejada will be brought back to Union County, North Carolina, where he'll face child abduction charges.
Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com: