The parents of the 8-month-old baby girl that was found safe at her home in Pembroke Pines following a Florida Amber Alert have been arrested, officials said.
Arys Maria Martinez and Jacob Alexander Howard, both 34 years old, are facing charges after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an Amber Alert for their daughter Amelia Martinez on Wednesday.
Officials said the child was dropped off Tuesday morning by her grandmother at a daycare in Davie and was later picked up by Howard, who then handed her over to her mother, Martinez.
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Last week, both parents voluntarily agreed to relinquish their parental rights, police said. Martinez was to have no contact with the child, but Howard was allowed supervised visitation and the child was placed with Martinez’s mother pending adoption, Davie Police reported.
Hours after the Amber Alert was issued, Pembroke Pines Police, their SWAT team, and Davie Police found Martinez and Amelia Rose at the grandmother’s home in west Pembroke Pines, officials said.
Inside a bathroom, police also said they found a white powder in a baggy along with a rolled up dollar bill. Amelia Rose was taken to a hospital and a urine test indicated she had been exposed to cocaine and fentanyl, police said.
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Martinez told police she had been using drugs and admitted she knew she had signed over her parental rights, police said.
She was charged with kidnapping a child under 13 years old to commit aggravated child abuse – aggravated because of the presence of the drugs in her baby’s urine.
Howard was charged with interfering with the custody of a child, after he admitted picking her up from the day care with another woman and handing the child over to Martinez, who he said had threatened to report him to police if he did not turn their baby over to her, which he did at the Pembroke Pines home, the police report stated.
“Based on your agreement with attorneys and the state, on count one the bond is gonna be $15,000," a judge told Howard in a bond court hearing Thursday.
The judge also ordered that Howard have no contact with the baby and that he not return to the daycare center.
This is not the first time the couple has been in trouble with law enforcement.
Howard has been arrested twice on domestic violence and other charges since 2022, with Martinez being the alleged victim in both cases. He is being held on no bond because he is still on probation stemming from the 2022 domestic violence case.
In the second case, Martinez was holding their newborn daughter when he struck her, according to a deputy’s report.
The first arrest, in 2022, led to him being placed on three years’ probation after he pled no contest to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and domestic battery, but adjudication was withheld.
In July 2023, six weeks after Amelia Rose was born, police were called again to their home. This time, Howard was arrested on charges including false imprisonment, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and domestic battery.
That second arrest violated his probation from the first case.
But it was reinstated after, at an August 11 hearing, the state stipulated Howard was not a danger to the community, and a judge agreed, according to court records.
Citing Howard’s community ties, mental condition, and efforts in recovery, the judge allowed him to continue on probation.
And on August 28, the state declined to prosecute Howard on the criminal charges stemming from the 2023 arrest.
Martinez is also expected to appear in bond court Thursday afternoon.
