(ANGOLA) – An Angola woman is charged with kidnapping following an incident last week.

Steuben County Chief Deputy Sheriff Michael Meeks says just before 5 PM on June 27, deputies responded to the 4700 block of West County Road 100 South in Pleasant Township, on an initial report of a small child taken from a residence. When they arrived, deputies gathered information and determined that a 5 year old boy was allegedly taken by a female relative from the child’s father after the father refused to willingly allow the child to go with that relative. The woman then left the residence with the child in a red passenger vehicle.

Sheriff’s detectives were also called to the scene and gathered further information, indicating the suspect was possibly going to a hospital because the child’s mother, who was divorcing the child’s father, was having a medical procedure. Detectives learned the child’s mother was at Cameron Memorial Hospital.

Deputies arrived at the hospital where they found the child and the suspect, 49 year old Patricia Reffeitt. The child was returned to his father. Reffeitt declined to speak to authorities and was taken into custody.

Reffeitt was booked into the Steuben County Jail on a felony charge of kidnapping. The matter remains under investigation.