Moses Lake man charged with kidnapping infant

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man allegedly took an infant girl from a house where he was staying without permission from the girl’s parents.

Grant County prosecutors charged Levi Hines, 24, of Moses Lake, with second-degree kidnapping.

On Wednesday the Grant County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a man, alleged to be Hines, taking a child from a home in the 1200 block of Arlington Drive Northeast. While en route to the call deputies were told the child, a 2-month-old girl, was back in the care of her mother, according to police records.

Hines was reportedly contacted at a home in the 1200 block of Arlington Drive Northeast and detained. The girl’s mother told deputies that Hines was a friend of her live-in boyfriend. Hines had reportedly been released from a jail a week prior to the incident and told the woman and her boyfriend that he was clean from drugs and had gone to drug rehabilitation.

The woman advised they were going to let Hines stay at their residence on Arlington Drive for two weeks. The woman said in the days prior to the abduction Hines had been in and out of her residence and in one incident he took her older daughter’s bicycle, which led her to believe Hines had possibly started using drugs again.

On the day of the abduction the woman’s son reportedly spotted Hines walking out of the back door of the Arlington Drive residence with the 2-month-old girl and a diaper bag. The girl’s brother chased Hines down and “had to physically remove” his sister from Hines. The girl’s mother said Hines had been telling people the girl was his daughter and that she, the girl’s mother, stole the girl from him and his girlfriend.

Hines allegedly told deputies the girl was his and stated he wanted to take her home.

“I (a deputy) asked Levi where home was and he told me Arlington (Drive). I informed Levi he was already on Arlington Drive Northeast. Levi appeared to be confused but still believed the child to be his. Levi asked me if the child was a boy or a girl, and I told him if it was his child, he should know the gender,” wrote a deputy. “Levi started to become upset and told me we needed to find his other kids because he doesn't know where they are. Levi admitted to taking a ‘baby hit’ of marijuana, but no other drugs.”

Hines was charged with second-degree kidnapping because he didn’t have custodial rights to the girl and wasn’t given permission to take her.