May 19, 2013
DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — A spokesman for Alabama's welfare agency says a worker couldn't have stopped the abduction of a 15-year-old girl from a medical office in Dothan.
Barry Spear of the Alabama Department of Human Resources said Thursday child welfare workers don't carry guns and aren't trained to fight off would-be threats to children.
Newly unsealed court documents show the girl was in state custody during a sexual abuse investigation when she was allegedly abducted by her mother's common-law husband,
Charles Partin. He is now charged with kidnapping, and the woman, Julie Bethke, also faces charges.
The couple, the teen and five younger children were located Saturday in Ohio.
The documents show Partin and Bethke were together when the girl was taken from an obstetrics office on Sept. 16.
