PORTER STONE - 5 yo - St. Louis MO

Police investigate parental kidnapping of transplant patient

Parental kidnapping investigation at St. Louis Children's Hospital
5:21 PM, Apr 24, 2012

St. Louis (KSDK) - Police are investigating a parental kidnapping from St. Louis Children's Hospital.

The incident happened Tuesday afternoon, but further details have not yet been released.

NewsChannel 5 has a crew on the scene and will provide more information as details become available.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/317650/40/Police-investigating-parental-kidnapping-of-5-year-old-transplant-patient

Police believe 5-year-old Porter Stone was kidnapped by Jeffrey Stone
5:35 PM, Apr 24, 2012

St. Louis (KSDK) - Police are investigating a parental kidnapping from St. Louis Children's Hospital.

St. Louis police say the incident happened Tuesday afternoon when a 5-year-old boy was taken from the hospital without permission. The mother has custody of the child.

A bulletin has been broadcast area-wide for 5-year-old Porter J. Stone who was at St. Louis Children's Hospital for a heart transplant.

It is believed Porter Stone was taken by his father, Jeffrey Stone, who was driving a silver Toyota Corolla with California license plates.

Porter Stone has a brown Mohawk and was last seen wearing a white shirt and black and white shorts. He was carrying a backpack that says "ICU."

Father and son are believed to be headed for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

NewsChannel 5 has a crew on the scene and will provide more information as details become available.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/317650/40/Police-investigating-parental-kidnapping-of-5-year-old-transplant-patient

why wasnt someone at the hospital with the boy-like his mother, grandparent, aunt? why was he left alone in the hospital?

Update:

Officials say Porter had been discharged from the hospital, but is wearing an IV bag that only contains 48 hours worth of medication.

An uncle of the boy says there has been an ongoing custody battle between Porter's parents.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/317650/40/Police-investigating-parental-kidnapping-of-5-year-old-transplant-patient

ok i gotcha mom_in_il. why was he released to the father? how r situations like this usually handled? i worry about this little boy because he will b in serious trouble should his meds run out before hes rescued. he father should b more concerned with his sons health than with custody issues right now. i hope he realizes that he screwed up any chance on having custody by taking the boy like this.

Police Issue Alert for Boy Snatched from Hospital
April 24, 2012 6:21 PM

Excerpt:

According to police, the boy had just been discharged from the hospital when he left with his father to get their car together. The father reporteldy called the child’s mother who was still at the hospital, telling her that he was leaving with the child.

More: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/04/24/police-issue-alert-for-boy-snatched-from-hospital/

SARAA Alert issued for Porter Stone, kidnapped from St. Louis Children's Hospital

Excerpt:

St. Louis (KSDK) - A SARAA Alert (St. Louis Area Amber Alert) has been issued for a 5-year-old patient taken by his father from St. Louis Children's Hospital.

. . . .

Porter Stone is 46 inches tall, weighs 44 pounds, has a brown Mohawk and was last seen wearing a white shirt and black and white shorts. He was carrying a backpack that says "ICU."

Jeffrey Stone is a 33-year-old white male. He is 6'6" tall, weighs 230 pounds, has a shaved head, and was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, black shorts, and a San Francisco Giants baseball cap. He was also carrying a Nike backpack.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/317650/40/Police-investigate-parental-kidnapping-of-transplant-patient

S.A.R.A.A. Alert Issued for Boy Snatched from Hospital
April 24, 2012 6:21 PM


Porter Stone, 5-year old allegedly abducted by father

ST. LOUIS–(KMOX)–Police are calling on the public to help locate a five-year old boy allegedly taken from St. Louis Children’s Hospital this afternoon by the child’s father.

Police say the boy– Porter Stone – is in need of medical treatment and he is “next in line” to receive a heart transplant.

According to police, the boy had just been discharged from the hospital when he left with his father to get their car together. The father reporteldy called the child’s mother who was still at the
hospital, telling her that he was leaving with the child.

Jeffery Stone

The missing boy is described as white, 46 inches tall, weighing 44 pounds. He was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, black and white plaid shorts and a pair of Spider Man tennis shoes. Porter was carrying a
back pack containing medical equipment.

The father is Jeffery Stone, a 33-year old white male. He is six-feet-six-inches tall, weighs 230 pounds, with a shaved head and was last seen wearing a grey shirt, black shorts and a San Francisco Giants baseball cap. He was also carrying a Nike back pack.

They were seen leaving the hospital in a Silver or Black 4-door Toyota Corolla with California license plates 6BMU445. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

A third person, Jeffery Stone’s mother, is said to be in the vehicle as well. Identified as Rhonda Marie Matthews.



http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/04/24/police-issue-alert-for-boy-snatched-from-hospital/

Doctors say Porter Stone could be in serious danger
10:51 PM, Apr 24, 2012

By Courtney Gousman

St. Louis (KSDK) - A 5-year-old boy with a serious heart condition is still missing.

Police are calling this a parental kidnapping and say he was taken from St. Louis Children's Hospital after he was discharged this afternoon. The child was in the custody of his mother.

Relatives say the child's mother has legal custody of Porter Stone, but his father, Jeffery Stone, who now lives in California, came to town to check on his son.

Doctors say Porter's heart has been deteriorating for some time, and things could get worse since it's believed the child only has enough medication to last him through Wednesday afternoon.

Doctors at Children's Hospital say Porter was recently diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy, and has been going back and forth between St. Louis and Kansas City for treatment.

"His heart muscle is not pumping properly," said Dr. Sessions Cole, Chief Medical Officer of St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Hospital staff says Porter checked into Children's Hospital Friday.

On Tuesday his family made the decision to place Porter on a heart transplant list.

Porter had been discharged from the hospital at 3:50 p.m. Tuesday when investigators say he and 33-year-old Jeffery Stone disappeared.

"After the discharge, the father took the child to the pharmacy and the mother went to get the car."

Police say Porter's mother waited for her son and Jeffery Stone to show up, but they never did. She then called police.

Investigators say Jeffery Stone's mother, Rhonda Matthews, is also with the pair. Relatives say she drove in from California a few days ago.

Ian Fife, Porter Stone's maternal uncle, says Porter's parents are in the midst of an ugly divorce and custody battle.

"I believe it's to try and hurt my sister. To try and take control of the situation since he had no custody of the children," said Fife.

Doctors are concerned for Porter's health since at the time of his disappearance he was hooked up to a portable IV, which had about 24 hours worth of medication left.

"His heart function, which is already compromised, will begin to deteriorate, so as with any patient whose heart is failing, he would begin to breathe rapidly," said Dr. Cole.

Fife says Jeffery Stone had been very critical of his son's care during Porter's stay at Children's.

Jeffery Stone and his mother, Rhonda Matthews, were last seen in a silver or black Toyota Corolla with California license plates, 6BMU445.

If you have any information on their whereabouts call 911.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/317696/3/Doctors-say-kidnapped-child-could-be-in-serious-danger

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/25/young-heart-patient-taken-from-hospital-found-safe/

With time running out, young heart patient taken from hospital found safe



ST. LOUIS – A 5-year-old heart patient who was on a transplant waiting list when he was taken from a St. Louis hospital by his father has been found safe just outside Chicago, authorities said.

Porter Stone was found at hospital in Alsip, Ill., and the father, 33-year-old Jeffery Stone, was in custody, a police dispatcher there, who declined to give her name because she wasn't authorized to talk to the news media, said early Wednesday. Fox2Now.com reported the three people were in custody.

A missing child alert had been issued after the boy was taken from the hospital Tuesday. St. Louis police Capt. Jim Moran told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the boy's father didn't have legal custody.

Porter was being treated for cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle.

Dr. F. Sessions Cole, the chief medical officer at St. Louis Children's Hospital, told KSDK-TV Porter's condition is serious and he only had about a day's worth of medication left in a portable IV when he was taken.

According to relatives, Jeffery Stone is estranged from the boy's mother, Tiffany Stone, who has legal custody of Porter. The boy’s uncle told Fox2Now.com that the father was irrationally at the hospital. Police say the parents are going through a divorce.

Porter, who lives in St. Joseph in northwestern Missouri, was on hospital's waiting list for a heart transplant. Cole said the boy was discharged after several days in the hospital so he could be monitored by doctors closer to home in the Kansas City area.

Police said Jeffery Stone took Porter and then called Tiffany Stone — who was still at the hospital — and told her he was taking the child, according to police.

i am so relieved that he has been found!!

Attorneys argue it was not kidnapping when father took child from St. Louis hospital

BY JENNIFER MANN • jmann@post-dispatch.com
Posted: Friday, May 11, 2012 12:32 pm |

ST. LOUIS • The father, grandmother and aunt who were charged with kidnapping last month after taking five-year-old Porter Stone from St. Louis Children's Hospital had no criminal intent, their attorneys argued in court Friday.

The attorneys asked a judge to reduce the $1 million cash bail set for each, and also used the opportunity to question why the three were charged in the first place.

Assistant Circuit Attorney Christine Krug, however, said her office believes the three are a flight risk and pose a potential threat to the child's health and safety and thus are "fighting their release into the community aggressively." She said the charges were based on the facts of the case.

Porter was being treated at the hospital for cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle from an unknown cause. Jeffrey Stone, 33, his mother, Rhonda Matthews, 59, and his sister, Heather Minton, 37, were arrested after they took the boy from his mother shortly after he was discharged on April 24.

For the less-than-24-hours that they had the boy, Porter was the focus of a local SARAA missing child alert and an Amber Alert. Authorities caught up with Porter and his family members in Alsip, Ill. on a tip.

Officials said the boy's mother, Tiffany Stone, had sole legal custody of the child. Hospital officials pointed out Porter needed constant medication for his condition and only had enough medication to last 24 hours. He is top on the list for a heart transplant.

Lawyers for the three argued Friday that Jeffrey Stone and his sister and mother took Porter because they were worried about the medical treatment he was receiving.

They were upset the boy had been discharged, the lawyers said, because in the past that had only led to a worsening of his condition. They said the intent of the three was to bring the boy to another hospital.

"I think it's going to be hard for the state to show they had any intent to harm the child — (because) in fact, it was just the opposite," said Richard Fredman, Minton's attorney.

Jeffrey Stone, according to the attorneys, had even sought the advice of a family lawyer, trying to sort out what they characterized as a custody misunderstanding.

Fredman argued Porter's case would normally be a typical family court matter, but "the case has sex appeal, it has appealed to the press, and because of that it's been misunderstood."

Krug said, however, the taking of Porter was anything but innocent. She said while Tiffany Stone was checking Porter out of the hospital, Jeffrey Stone said he was going to get his car but instead took off with the child.

She also pointed to texts Jeffrey Stone reportedly sent to Tiffany Stone, including one that said "Fat (expletive) (expletive), I'm in control now!"

"That does not say to me (that) he has any concern for his child's well being," she said, adding, "He was angry? I don't know. The way he handled it was criminal."

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Paula Bryant took the issue of bail under advisement. In addition to kidnapping, the three face charges of interference with custody and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child — both also felonies. Jeffrey Stone is from Grand Prairie, Texas, Matthews from Hercules, Calif., and Minton from Chico, Calif.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/attorneys-argue-it-was-not-kidnapping-when-father-took-child/article_85c03832-9b8f-11e1-929f-001a4bcf6878.html#ixzz1vFTWTHZy

Kidnapped boy comes home to St. Joseph with new heart

Posted: 7:53 AM
Last Updated: 1 hour and 2 minutes ago
By: Najahe Sherman

ST. JOSEPSH, Mo. - The 5-year-old boy at the center of an AMBER Alert two months ago is back in St. Joseph recovering from heart transplant surgery.

Porter Stone’s family said having him home is nothing short of a miracle, and they want to thank everyone in Kansas City for their thoughts and prayers.

We were at Porter’s homecoming last night. Family and friends said Porter received heart transplant surgery about two weeks ago and so far, everything is going well.

As you might recall, almost two months ago, Porter was kidnapped him from a St. Louis Hospital.

Porter’s father, Jeffery Stone is charged with kidnapping, along with Porter’s grandmother and aunt.

He was receiving treatment for a condition that causes weakening of the heart muscle and eventually causes the heart to stop pumping.

Police found Porter at a hotel near Chicago. His family said they are so grateful to have Porter home.

“It is almost like a dream. Absolutely, he is a walking miracle and even though I am tired inside I am ecstatic. It is almost like pinch me, is it happening, is it real?” said Matt Fife, Porter's grandfather.

Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/local_news/Kidnapped-boy-comes-home-to-St-Joseph-with-new-heart#ixzz1yujlR6CC