Bond set for kidnapping suspect

The bond for a woman accused of kidnapping and crossing state lines with two young brothers earlier this month was set at $200,000 Monday afternoon.

Franklin County District Judge Paula McDowell set bonds of $100,000 a piece for the two first-degree kidnapping charges Teresa Lynn McGee, 30, 75 Wallace St., Russellville, received when she fled to Indiana with brothers Angel Everado Montoya, 6, and Christian Santos Montoya, 5.

As conditions of her bond, McDowell instructed McGee to have no contact with either of the two boys or with their father, Everado Montoya.

McDowell also told McGee that, if she made bond, she was not allowed on the Russellville West Elementary School property and she could not leave the state.

After the bond hearing, McGee was taken to the Russellville Police Department for booking and then transferred to the Franklin County Jail.

As McGee was transported from the Russellville Police Department to the Franklin County Courthouse for the hearing, she declared, “I’m not guilty.”

McGee was the babysitter for the two children at the time the alleged kidnapping took place on March 11. She had been their babysitter for the past six to eight months and had been keeping the children at her residence for around a month while Montoya, their single father, made repairs to his home to make it safer for the children to live in.

Montoya worked long hours at his job and on the house, but he would go to McGee’s home in the evenings to see the boys. Because he had seen them each evening during the week before McGee left the state, Montoya didn’t know anything was wrong until he received a letter on March 12 from West Elementary where the boys’ attended school.

“Members from the school became concerned when the boys didn’t show up for school all week so, following procedure, they sent a letter to the boys’ address concerning the absences, and the father received the letter on Saturday,” Hargett said.

“After he received the letter, Montoya called McGee and asked her where she was and she told him that she was with her mother, father and son and they were going to Florida to take the boys to Disney World. Montoya told her she did not have permission to do that and told her to bring the boys back.”

Hargett said McGee told Montoya they were in Florida when they were really in Indiana, which police learned during McGee’s attempt to withdraw the children from school.

Hargett said McGee faxed the school to show she had been homeschooling the boys. Police were able to obtain a phone number from the fax and trace it to an Office Depot in Indianapolis.

After making contact with McGee, she volunteered the address for where she was staying with an acquaintance.

McGee was taken into custody on March 14 by officers with the Indianapolis FBI office and other local authorities and was extradited this past week.

The children are now back in the area and are in the custody of the Franklin County Department of Human Resources until arrangements can be made for safer living conditions at their father’s home.

McGee, who was represented by local attorney Rebecca Green Thomason, will have 30 days to file for a preliminary hearing. The case will then proceed to the grand jury.

At press time, McGee was still in custody at the Franklin County Jail.