U.S. Marshals Safely Recover 4 Children Abducted by Noncustodial Father

Detroit, MI – U.S. Marshals in the Eastern District of Michigan, working with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Florida Regional Task Force, Thursday recovered four children ranging in age from 3-10 who had been kidnapped by their father, a long-haul trucker.

The U.S. Marshals in Detroit were tasked Tuesday with locating a missing endangered child abducted in April by the noncustodial father, Joses Braxton, who was wanted on a felony warrant for parental kidnapping out of the Saginaw County Sheriff's Office.

Once assigned the case, U.S. Marshals Service investigators, working with the Michigan State Police, began looking for Braxton, whom they believed would lead them to the missing child.

Further investigation revealed that in September 2021 Braxton had also taken three other children he'd fathered with a different mother.

On Thursday, investigators developed information that Braxton was in the 100 block of North Congress Avenue in Riviera Beach, Florida, and sent a collateral lead to the USMS Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force, asking for assistance. Members of the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force observed Braxton exiting a Walmart near that location and took him into custody. All four missing children were found in the cab of Braxton's semi-truck in the parking lot.

Once the children were safely recovered, the U.S. Marshals Service coordinated with the MSP Missing Child Clearing House to arrange for Child Protective Custody to take temporary custody of the children pending re-unification.

"The Marshals Service is dedicated to helping recover critically missing and endangered children," said U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Michigan Owen M. Cypher. "I'm especially proud of the dedication and tenacity displayed by our investigators, as well as the speed at which they acted to ensure the safe recovery of these kids."