Man accused of S.C. child abduction arrested at Corbin hospital

A South Carolina man was arrested early Tuesday morning at a Corbin hospital, and the child with him that was the subject of an Amber Alert will be reunited with his/her mother soon.

According to Kentucky State Police Post 11 Public Affairs Officer Don Trosper, police received a request for an officer at Baptist Regional Medical Center at about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday morning. Hospital officials told authorities that a man and a child were at the emergency room and were acting suspicious. A check of the national Amber Alert website confirmed that the child had been reported abducted at 6:00 p.m. Nov. 22 out of Pickens, SC.

KSP Trooper Don Sivils responded to the call. A short time later he arrested 46-year-old Donnie Lee Shelton, of Pickens, SC. Shelton was wanted on charges of assault and battery first-degree and for non-custodial abduction of a child. He was charged with being a fugitive from another state and lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center where he remained as of press time Tuesday.

The child was treated for a minor illness and released from the hospital and into the custody of the Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children’s Whitley County Office pending arrival of the child’s mother.

Sivils was assisted in the arrest by Trooper Fred Pennington, Trooper Mike King and the Corbin Police Department.