BENTON COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — New details have been released regarding the arrest of a Rogers woman accused of abducting eight children.
Trista Dawn Fullerton, 36, is accused of eight counts of interference with court ordered custody, a Class D felony.
According to a Facebook post from the Anderson Police Department in California, a concerned citizen called dispatch in Shasta County requesting a welfare check on a group of children and a woman they were with who was reportedly displaying bizarre behavior.
Officers responded on Oct. 21 and located the woman and six of the children in a parking lot. The woman, identified as Fullerton, had a felony warrant for her arrest for the abduction of eight children, the post said.
Fullerton was arrested and disclosed the location of the other two children who were not with her and were located at a residence in the Cottonwood area with the assistance of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department.
The APD post says that a records check on the eight children revealed them to all be listed as abducted with protective custody warrants issued for their safety.
Officers later learned that Fullerton is the biological mother of the eight children, but she had lost custody and had taken the children from their foster homes.
Fullerton was booked into the Shasta County Jail and the children were released to Shasta County Children and Family Services to be reunited with their guardians in Arkansas.
Now, new court documents obtained by KNWA/FOX24 detail that police were aware of Fullerton’s alleged behavior days before she was arrested.
A probable cause affidavit says that on Oct. 17, someone reported that Fullerton had interfered with the court ordered custody of the eight children.
The children were later entered into the Arkansas Crime Information Center as missing.
On Oct. 18, an officer spoke with Fullerton’s father, who advised that he would be speaking to her later in the day and would instruct her to call the Rogers Police Department.
According to court documents, Fullerton never contacted the Rogers Police Department.
Fullerton’s father told police that she said she was taking the children to Arizona to start a new life.
On Oct. 19, detectives were informed that Fullerton and the eight children were located in Redding, California.
Court documents say that police in California declined to hold Fullerton or the children since she did not have any active warrants at that time. A warrant was issued for her arrest out of Benton County on Oct. 20.
Fullerton is awaiting extradition to Arkansas and faces a criminal charge for flight from prosecution in California.