Haylee Donathan |
ESCONDIDO, Calif.—
A 27-year-old convicted sex offender and a 24-year- old woman were in custody Wednesday after authorities found them in Valley Center with the woman's 3-year-old daughter, who had been missing from Ohio for nearly a month, a sheriff's sergeant said.Deputies acting on a tip found Haylee Donathan at a Christian retreat called Morning Star Ranch in the 12000 block of Keys Creek Road around 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to San Diego County sheriff's Sgt. Robert Bishop.
The tip came from the manager of the retreat, who contacted authorities after he received a call from another Morning Star resident who recognized the girl from an Amber Alert billboard in Los Angeles, Deputy U.S. Marshall Omar Castillo said.
Donathan's grandmother reported the child missing after her mother took her on a camping trip on May 28 and failed to return as scheduled.
Donathan was being cared for Wednesday morning at the county's Polinsky Children's Center for displaced youths, according to sheriff's department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell.
The girl may have contracted a mild case of chicken pox but was otherwise in good health and good spirits, Caldwell said, adding that plans would be made to return the girl to her grandmother in Ohio as soon as possible.
With Donathan in Valley Center were Robbie Potter, 27, and Watson's mother, Candace Watson, 24, Bishop said. The pair was arrested. Potter was believed to be in federal custody, while Watson was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail at the Vista jail, according to jail records.
"I'm very happy that my granddaughter is coming home, and I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart,'' Haylee's grandmother, Mary Watson told the media.
A $10,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the capture of Potter, a convicted sex offender who left a halfway house in northern Ohio on May 28.
