A father who abducted his estranged son from a park in Palm Beach County, prompting the issue of an AMBER alert for the boy Sunday, has been arrested after he was pulled over in Central Florida, officials said.
Christian Simeus, 7, of Riviera Beach, was playing at a park in the 1200 block of West Third Street in Riviera Beach on Sunday when his father, Jean Simeus, 44, of Georgia, took him, Riviera Beach Police said.
Serena Spates, a spokesperson for the police department, said Monday evening she did not know whether the boy was alone or if someone was supervising him at the park. Simeus had not seen his son since he was two months old, Spates said. She did not have information Monday evening about the custody arrangements of Christian’s parents.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an AMBER alert for Christian on Sunday evening. Within a few hours, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper in Sumter County who received a be-on-the-lookout alert for Simeus’s 2019 BMW 440I with a Georgia license plate saw the car exiting State Road 91 on to north Interstate 75 and pulled Simeus over with assistance from a Sumer County K-9 Unit, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Monday evening.
AMBER Alert for Christian Simeus, blk male, 7 y/o, 3' 7", 57 lbs. blk hair & eyes, last seen Riviera Beach, grey shirt & shorts, Spider-Man shoes. May be w/Jean Simeus, blk male, 5'8", 135 lbs, Black BMW 440i, GA tag TBZ4664. Contact Riviera Beach PD, 561-845-4123 or 911.
— FDLE (@fdlepio) February 25, 2024
Christian was unharmed and returned to his mother, Riviera Beach Police said. Simeus was arrested during the traffic stop in Lake City, Spates said.
It was not immediately clear where Simeus planned to go with his son, Spates said, though he was heading north and police believed he may have been heading toward Orlando or to Georgia, where he currently lives.
As of Monday afternoon, Simeus was held in the Sumter County jail. He will be brought to Palm Beach County to face the kidnapping charge, Spates said.
Last week in Broward County, the parents of 8-month-old Amelia Martinez were arrested after an AMBER alert was issued and the baby was found safe the same day. The baby’s father, Jacob Howard, picked her up from daycare in Davie on Tuesday and dropped her off to her mother, Arys Martinez, despite a custody order not allowing Martinez visitations.
Martinez drove to Miami with her infant Tuesday night, the night before FDLE issued the AMBER alert, and both were found Wednesday at Martinez’s home in Pembroke Pines. The baby was placed in the custody of ChildNet, a contractor of the Florida Department of Children and Families, Davie Police said.
Parents of 8-month-old in Davie AMBER alert arrested after infant found safe
