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    Beard and John
June 30, 2010

Man enters plea in child stealing case

Randy Mitchell City Editor Ada Evening News

Ada —  

A man who took his child from government custody and traveled across the country, entered a plea and was sentenced to serve prison time last week.

David Earl Beard, 61, Ada, pleaded no contest to child stealing and was sentenced to serve 20 years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, according to Jim Tillison, assistant district attorney.

Beard’s biological 2-year-old child was in the custody of Chickasaw Nation Child Welfare at the time of the incident — Sept. 4, 2009 — and was living with foster parents. 

“(A caseworker) told me that Beard got visitation every other weekend and that it was ordered through the Chickasaw Nation District Court,” said Heath Miller, Pontotoc County sheriff’s deputy, in a court affidavit.

Tillison said Beard and the child’s biological mother, Angela Michelle John, 30, Ada, did not return the child at a scheduled time and disappeared. A nationwide search was launched through a U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force.

Tillison said the couple and child were located in Florida in October 2009. John has also been charged in the case and is currently in jail on a $100,000 bond. A jury trial for John is scheduled for Aug. 17 at 8:30 a.m.

Tillison said Beard has a long criminal history with at least four previous felony convictions. John was serving a suspended sentence out of Bryan County for child neglect when she allegedly took the child. Bryan County currently has a warrant out for her arrest and she will be returned there once her trial is over.

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