The kid’s fine. Everyone else …

Last week’s Amber Alert reveals messy custody case.

On Thursday, August 21, an AMBER alert was issued nationwide in an attempt to locate a 4 year-old Bishop resident, Sjon Singleton. The boy was found in the Walker Lake area at 8:41 p.m. with his mother, Angel Schat, in the 2001 blue Chevy Silverado that was described in the Alert.

At 12:35 p.m. earlier that day, the boy’s father, Sean Singleton requested a welfare check for his son, telling “the police the mother might be in the Reno Nevada area, and he believed she might be trying to leave the state,” according to the police report. “It was a crisis situation and there is no truth to the rumor that it was uncalled for,” Therese Hankel, Singleton’s attorney, said.

Schat’s attorney, Rick Wood, said that his client was not intending to flee with her son, and insisted that “relocation and travel are two different things,” Wood said.  The custody orders in place, allow Schat to travel outside of the area.

The Bishop Police Department press release states that “the residence in Bishop where the mother and child were believed to be at was checked; it was determined no one was at the residence, and it appeared to be vacant,” which eventually led to the AMBER Alert based on the belief that Schat was relocating from the area.

Wood refutes this allegation saying, there is a “fundamental flaw” in the police investigation that led to the issuing of the AMBER Alert. Wood said his client had vacated her trailer at Grant Lake, which she visits during the summer. “The bottom line is that it is not her residence. Her residence is in Inyo County. Her house in Inyo County … looks like anyone else’s house,” Wood said. “The report is generated by the police to justify whatever action they have taken.” Bishop PD confirmed the residence described in the report was in Bishop.

Hankel agreed that there were no travel restrictions in the custody orders, but said Schat was “traveling with all belongings” last week, which could be interpreted as relocation. She also said Schat is suffering from “some form of mental illness” and has been “acting out and endangering my client’s son.”

Hankel claims that Schat was transporting her child without a car seat and had several run-ins with local law enforcement recent weeks. Mammoth Police Department had contact with Schat on August 13. Chief Watson confirmed that she was with her son, and did not have a car seat, however there was no evidence of any crime and “after we talked to her, she was released,” Watson said. “There were no custody issues.”

“Based on their interpretation of an order and their allegations that are largely unsupported, they got the Bishop PD to issue an AMBER Alert that has caused my client a whole lot of heartache and resulted in her being arrested at gunpoint in front of a four year old child,” Wood said.

According to Hankel, Schat and Singleton met while Schat was living in Florida, where their son was born in 2009 (while Singleton was in jail, Wood pointed out). Hankel admits that Singleton was incarcerated at the time of his son’s birth but “he was wrongfully convicted” and subsequently released. “His last conviction was 2001 and he has been a law abiding citizen since that time,” she said.  Schat and child remained in Florida for “a few years” before Schat moved back to Bishop where her family lives, Hankel said.

Wood said both parties were involved in court hearings earlier this year in attempts to modify the 2013 custody orders. Judge Stout in Bishop heard the case, where both parties agreed on new orders that gave Schat sole physical custody but allowed for more visitations by Singleton, according to Wood.

He also said that Singleton did not appear at a court hearing August 4 or August 19 and he “refused to sign” the agreement. Wood believes Singleton was “preparing an application to modify custody to have this child turned over to the father in Florida, the same person who has not spent one single night with the child,” he said.

After Schat’s arrest on Thursday, Sjon spent the weekend with Singleton in Bishop. Schat, who is being charged with 278.5 PC- Child Abduction/Violation of a custody order and 273(a) PC-Child Endangerment, was released on Monday night by a visiting judge at Inyo County Court in Bishop.

“The judge left orders as they are and Angel has legal and physical custody. [Her son] is back in the arms of his mom and her extended family,” Wood said.

Singleton, also present in court on Monday, is seeking full custody and “he wants to make sure his son is safe,” Hankel said.

“This is an extremely unfortunate process to go through for a four year old,” Wood said. The visiting judge on Monday, was “not inclined to let the boy go with his father and that was clearly the right call.”

Hankel said that the visiting judge ordered Child Protective Services (CPS) to do a report of allegations of endangerment and abuse for the hearing next Thursday, which she believes will be validation of her client’s allegations. Hankel said her client “has no ill will against Angel. He told the judge, he’s not interested in seeing her prosecuted, he wants to see her get help.”

Wood insisted the allegations against his client are wrong “we will present our evidence [in court] and refute all the allegations. We will let the process work through the appropriate means I am confident that it will work itself out.” The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday September 4 at 1 p.m. in front of Judge Stout in Bishop. “Every once in awhile you know you are on the right side and this is one of those times,” Wood said.

An AMBER Alert can only be issued by the CHP if a case meets all the criteria, including the threat of imminent danger or injury and substantial information that can lead to the recovery of the child, namely a specific car description. Effective December 31, 2012, AMBER Alerts are distributed to cell phones through Wireless Emergency Alerts, which is why everyone received the alert with Schat’s vehicle description last Thursday.

The AMBER alert system was initiated through California legislation in 2002 and all 50 states now use the system. The first Amber Alert in California resulted in the safe recovery of two teenagers who had been kidnapped at gunpoint in Los Angeles. As of August 4, 2014 the Amber alert has been activated 231 times, resulting in the rescue or safe finding of 276 children, according to CHP Public Information Officer Anne Morin.