HURST, Ill. – A Williamson County, Illinois, man is accused of taking his 3-year-old boy from family members who have custody and later endangering the child’s life.
According to a spokesperson for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, deputies observed a man operating a four-wheeler on the road around 3:30 p.m. on February 27, holding a small child who was not wearing a helmet.
Deputies tried stopping the man, but he fled and blew through multiple stop signs. Deputies abandoned their pursuit out of concern for the boy’s well-being.
Deputies identified the man as Ricky A. Cooper and learned the child was his, however, he didn’t have custodial rights.
The sheriff’s office claims Cooper picked the boy up from his grandparents’ home earlier. Cooper didn’t return home with the child that evening, prompting authorities to begin a search.
Around this time, members of the community, unaware the child was with Cooper, began looking for the boy, thinking he’d gone missing.
Just after 9 p.m., the boy’s family contacted the sheriff’s office and said Cooper contacted them and wanted the child picked up, adding he would surrender to deputies afterward.
By 9:30 p.m., deputies were notified the boy’s grandmother had picked him up.
Cooper was arrested a short time later. Deputies claim Cooper admitted the ATV he’d been riding was stolen. Deputies have yet to locate the ATV.
In the meantime, deputies cited Cooper for aggravated fleeing and eluding a peace officer, child abduction, obstruction of justice, endangering the life or health of a child, driving with a revoked license, operating an ATV on the roadway, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, and two counts of stop sign violation.
