MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — A foster parent and her mother were arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after allegedly kidnapping a 5-year-old Mount Vernon boy and taking him to Vietnam.
Amanda Dinges, 35, and her mother, Amber Dinges, 60, were arrested by Mount Vernon police on Dec. 29 upon returning from Vietnam. They are currently in custody at Skagit County Community Justice Center in Mount Vernon.
During their first court appearance on Dec. 30, no contact orders were established, preventing either from contacting the boy or the boy's biological mother. They are not allowed to be within 1,000 feet of the boy or his school, nor are they allowed to be unsupervised with minors or have firearms.
They are being held on $100,000 bail each.
The boy, who was under the care of Dinges, arrived back in Seattle Dec. 16.
The boy reunited with his biological mother after he arrived.
"She said that he's doing good, that he was excited to see her," said Brittany Tri, the birth mother's attorney. "They're both excited, so the excitement goes both ways, but she did say that he's very tired."
The search for the boy began Nov. 28 when Child Protective Services alerted Mount Vernon police that Amanda Dinges may have left with the boy.
Police discovered Amanda Dinges disconnected her phones, vacated her last known address and fled the area.
CPS told police the child had not been in school since Nov. 21 and there was a notice of abandonment on the door of Dinges' apartment, according to probable cause documents.
Dinges previously met with the boy's biological mother and CPS workers on Nov. 15, where the agency recommended the boy’s biological mother have overnight visits for a few weeks starting on Nov. 25. The group planned a meeting in December to discuss expanding the visits.
The next day, Dinges told Sky Valley CPS that she needed to have her teenage foster child removed from her home before she started a new job across the state on Nov. 21. Police say Dinges told CPS workers that the 5-year-old had already been removed, which he had not.
CPS removed the teen from Dinges’ care on Nov. 18.
On Nov. 19, a neighbor told police she saw the Dingeses and the boy walking quickly and heard the women tell the boy they "we're leaving here." The neighbor then asked Amber if they were moving and said her response was "awkward" and she tried to change the conversation quickly.
On Nov. 21, managers at Dinges’ apartment found the keys to her unit in the office, which they believed were returned over the weekend.
When the boy didn't show up to the scheduled visit with his biological mother on Nov. 25, she contacted her caseworker, according to Brittany Tri, the biological mother's lawyer. Due to the holiday weekend, the worker saw the message on Nov. 28, and CPS alerted police to concern about the child’s safety.
Amanda Dinges was charged with second-degree kidnapping and a warrant was issued for her arrest on Nov. 29. Amber Dinges was charged with second-degree kidnapping Dec. 2.
Through interviews and data collected in 25 search warrants, Mount Vernon police said they determined the boy and the Dingeses were in Thai Binh, Vietnam, which is about 70 miles southeast of Hanoi.
Diplomatic Service Security personnel took custody of the boy at the United States Consulate in Hanoi on Dec. 14. The boy then flew to Tokyo where he was met by the FBI and advocates.