After a hearing which called for the removal of three children from the care of family members yesterday, the children were taken by their mother. It was a case of parental kidnapping.

Police in Egg Harbor Township say a hearing called for the removal of three children, ages 2, 5, and 14 from the care of family members, after their mother, Julie Craig, failed to comply with a judge's order.

Before agents from the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency could get to the residence in Egg Harbor Township to pick up the children, Craig and Tyrone Payne, 42, went and removed the children.

A multi-department search took several hours before the children were located safe in Buena. Craig and Payne were arrested at their Hamilton Township residence and charged with interference with custody and endangering the welfare of a child.

They are both being held in the Atlantic Country Jail on $25,000 cash bond.

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