Jan. 28--A man and woman suspected of abducting their children nine years ago from Las Vegas to avoid an investigation of alleged drug abuse during pregnancy have been arrested near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, authorities said.
A sheriff's deputy on patrol spotted suspicious activity in the truck parking lot of Truckstops of America in unincorporated Russell at about 11:20 p.m. Tuesday, the Lake County sheriff's office said.
The deputy found Maria Rosaline Malagon-Castillo, 40, and Victor Manuel Ruiz-Garcia, 39, both wanted by authorities in Las Vegas, according to the sheriff's office.
Their children, now 14 and 9, were located by Lake County sheriff's deputies in the 7800 block of 88th Street in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., after they'd been listed as missing through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the sheriff's office said.
Malagon-Castillo is from Pleasant Prairie, authorities said.
Ruiz-Garcia and Malagon-Castillo appeared in bond court Wednesday morning and both were remanded to the Lake County jail without bond. Their next court appearances are scheduled Feb. 3.
After both children were made wards of the state of Nevada in 2006, the parents fled with them to avoid an investigation by Las Vegas police into an allegation of drug abuse by Malagon-Castillo during pregnancy, the sheriff's office said.
The children have been turned over to a family member pending review of the case in Nevada, the sheriff's office said. Ruiz-Garcia and Malagon-Castillo face extradition to Nevada.
Ruiz-Garcia, a long-haul truck driver, was in possession of a fake Nevada commercial driver's license that had been suspended, authorities said.
Lake County News Sun reporter Jim Newton contributed to this report.
