BY DAN HILDEBRAN
General manager
A woman accused of driving the getaway car in a Hampton child abduction was sentenced to three years’ probation after agreeing to testify against her co-defendant.
Leilani R. Cheevers pleaded to interfering with the custody of a child. The state dropped a kidnapping charge.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Cheevers and her boyfriend, Le’Marcus D. Rayford, went to the residence and demanded custody of Rayford’s biological son.
“When (the victim) did not go, Rayford grabbed him, took him to the vehicle, and placed him inside,” wrote a Bradford sheriff’s detective. “When leaving, Cheevers performed a u-tum on (County Road) 221 and drove past the house again. As they were passing the residence, Rayford reached out of the window with the firearm and fired a single shot toward the direction of the residence.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Mueller said investigators tracked Rayford and Cheevers to Columbia County. The boy was turned over to his paternal grandparents.
