$250 Bail For Mother Arrested In Amber Alert, Family Applauds
BOSTON (CBS/AP) — A woman who was arrested in Boston after prompting an Amber Alert over the weekend was released on $250 bail Monday, sparking applause from her family.
Police say 36-year-old Tiffany Cherry left Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, with her baby Friday after she was told to get him emergency medical care because he was severely dehydrated.
Her attorney Stephen Weymouth said in court Monday a second opinion proved differently, and the child had some blood work done in Boston and is doing fine Monday morning.
Cherry's niece, Tarshi Cherry, says there were breastfeeding issues, and the child had lost some weight. She says she was on the phone with Cherry during the entire five-hour trip to Massachusetts, adding that she was looking after her four-year-old child while she was away.
"Everyone has different opinions of what's right and what's not right, but I think in her head she really, really believed that this was the right thing," she said. "In my head, I believed it was too."
The Amber Alert was issued around 1:45 a.m. Saturday for Cherry and her 2 ½-month-old son, Quavai.
They were found about an hour after the alert at Boston Children's Hospital, where Cherry went to get her son treated. A nurse recognized them.
Her attorney says the alert was not necessary.
"This isn't a situation where she broke into the custodial parent's home, took the children, put them in a car and took off," he said. "That's a true Amber Alert."
Cherry was arraigned Monday in Roxbury Municipal Court as a fugitive from justice on warrants out of Pennsylvania.
Weymouth said the charges against Cherry are blown out of proportion and that she simply wanted to take her son to Children's for higher quality care, as any parent has a right to do.
"She just didn't feel comfortable with the ideas she was being given by the nurse practitioner (in Pennsylvania)," Weymouth said. "And again with her family being here, that's why she came here."
WBZ-TV was told Cherry previously had a stillborn so she was nervous and scared and wanted to make sure her child received proper care.
Quavai is in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
Prosecutors argued for $250,000 bail, saying Cherry was a significant flight risk after being charged with child endangerment in Pennsylvania, triggering the alert. But Judge David Poole set it at just $250. Cherry's relatives applauded when the judge made the announcement in court.
Cherry's sister, Sonja, says the judge did the right thing because Tiffany was only trying to do the right thing for her son.
"Everything worked out for the (better)," she says. "Whatever Tiff did do wrong or whatever poor judgment she's made, she's paid for that."
Cherry was ordered to comply with all DCF orders and to surrender to Pennsylvania authorities on the warrant in the next two weeks.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope reports
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)