- April 18, 2024
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After illegally taking her two children to South America in 2010, a Palm Coast woman was arrested and booked into the Flagler County Inmate Facility on Tuesday.
Deborah Morningsun was arrested at the Orlando International Airport after disembarking from a plane arriving from Ecuador, said Lt. Robert Weber, public information officer for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
She was booked into the Orange County Jail and then sent via a private transportation company to Flagler County, where she was charged with taking her two children, who were in custody of a government agency, out of state in 2010.
She was held on $3,000 bail, which her two children posted almost immediately, Weber said.
In 2010, Morningsun’s two children, who were 14 and 16 at the time, were in the care and custody of the Department of Children and Families, under the supervision of the care provider Community Partnership for Children, according to court documents.
In December of that year, Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano allowed Morningsun’s children a visit home for Christmas. They were to return to their mother’s home on Felter Lane from Dec. 15, 2010, to Jan. 15, 2011.
The court was then working to restore custody of the children to Morningsun, as long as she kept them away from her husband, Will Morningsun, and his son, according to the documents. After the visit home, the court was scheduled to discuss a potential reunification of the family during a hearing in February 2011.
But that hearing never happened. On Dec. 29, 2010, Amy Eichen visited the residence on Felter Lane to check on the Morningsun children. Eichen, a case manager for the Community Partnership for Children, was met by Morningsun’s husband, who said Morningsun and her children had left the residence.
He said they might be in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Eichen filled out paperwork to allow the children, if found, to be taken into state custody. She also filed a missing persons report with the Sheriff’s Office.
Soon, officials confirmed that Morningsun and her children were gone. They had departed Dec. 28, from the Miami International Airport to Port of Spain, the Repbulic of Trinidad and Tobago, reported David Alejandro, director of the Tampa-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Intelligence Group.
A warrant was issued for Morningsun’s arrest, but her case sat untouched for two years, until she landed in Orlando from Ecuador.
Weber said he does not yet know what charges were originally filed against Morningsun to deny her custody of her children.
