PORT RICHEY, Fla. — A Port Richey woman is accused of kidnapping her neighbor's 18-month-old son.
Pasco County deputies responded to a home on Leeds Drive on Monday afternoon where a woman told them that her 18-month old son had been abducted by her neighbor from the front yard. The alleged abduction took place around 4:15 p.m.
The mother explained that her neighbor, 53-year-old Ann Orr, picked up her son and retreated into her home, refusing the mother's pleas to release her child and return him.
Deputies say that Orr confined the child against the will of the mother without her consent.
Orr was released on bond Tuesday night. She told ABC Action News reporter Ryan Smith that she's innocent.
"I was asked to take care of a child," Orr said walking into her home.
When deputies made contact with Orr, she was holding the child inside her residence. Deputies say that she refused to open the locked door and refused to hand over the child.
Orr told deputies she was keeping the child from the mother because she felt the mother was unfit.
"I was really shocked because she dressed up, around Christmas time, like an elf and came over here and delivered goodies, you know, snacks and stuff to the kids next door here," said neighbor Jessica Braddam.
According to the arrest report, she refused to give the deputies the child despite repeated requests. This went on for more than 10 minutes. Eventually, a deputy was able to coax Orr into releasing the child into their custody.
"She actually was communicating with her dog, talking to the dog saying that it knew to not give back the baby and she made a lot of strange statements like that that didn't make sense," said Sgt. William Lindsey.
When the deputies began to attempt to detain Orr, she began actively resisting, according to the arrest report. She did not stop resisting despite deputies commands and had to be taken to the ground before being handcuffed.
Sgt. Lindsey credits two responding Pasco deputies for de-escalating a tense situation that could have ended in a hostage situation.
"Because of her behavior, that child was in grave danger the entire time," said Sgt. Lindsey.
Orr was arrested and charged with kidnapping a child under the age of 13 and resisting arrest without violence.
