PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITY — Police officials announced Monday the arrest of a woman suspected of abducting her 8-year-old child from Santa Monica in March.
Adriana Joriel Johns, 27, was brought back to Santa Monica on April 5 from Clermont, Fla., where local law enforcement officials took her into custody on March 22.
The child, Jounel Armon Taylor, was recovered in good health. He was reunited with his grandmother, whom he lives with in Santa Monica, on March 24.
Taylor picked up her son on March 6 for an overnight stay, with the expectation that she would bring him to school the next day, police officials said. She had lost custody of the child to her mother in 2012.
Instead, Johns fled with the boy to Florida, with the hope of changing her life, said Sgt. Richard Lewis, spokesperson for the SMPD.
Investigators tracked her down south, and she was taken into custody by the Lake County Sheriff's Department.
Johns was booked on suspicion of child abduction and an outstanding burglary warrant. Her bail was set at $150,000.
She was arraigned Monday at the Airport Courthouse, but the results were not available at presstime.
ashley@www.smdp.com
