By ANDY SEVILLA

A Central Texas woman accused of abducting her three-year-old son and keeping him from his Maryland father was caught and arrested in Kyle after allegedly hiding out from authorities. 

Cassandra Nicole Secor, 26, of Hutto was arrested just after noon Thursday in the 600 block of Fairfield Drive in Kyle and has been charged with child abduction, according to Hays County Jail records.

Secor has been wanted in Maryland since July after a judge issued an arrest warrant for her alleged failure to return her child to the father – Charles Eric Warren, the lawful custodian, according to a U.S. Marshals Service statement. 

Secor and Warren divorced in 2012, according to court documents. A Maryland Circuit Court judge ordered in May that Warren was to have access and visitation to the child from July 4 through August 8. However, when the man traveled to Texas to retrieve the child, Secor never showed up, depriving Warren of his parental rights and access after being granted joint custody, according to her charging documents.

After Secor failed to deliver custody of the child and didn’t contact Warren or the court, a Maryland Circuit Court judge issued an Exparte Order and granted sole custody of the child to Warren.

That judge’s order also authorized the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department and the Georgetown Police Department to enforce the order and secure custody of the child and effectuate a transfer to Warren.

On July 10, the 395th Judicial District Court of Williamson County issued a Motion for Issuance of Writ where it is stated that “Charles Eric Warren believes that Cassandra Nicole Warren’s (AKA Cassandra Secor) continued possession of the child will create and is creating a serious, immediate threat to the child’s physical and emotional well-being.”

The Writ further states, “Warren does not know the whereabouts of Cassandra Nicole Warren or the child and fears that Cassandra Nicole Warren may have fled with the child.”

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children got involved in the case and profiled the child on its website in an effort to bring national awareness of the missing child.

Secor’s last known address was in the 1900 block of County Road 130 in Hutto, but authorities said the woman was moving from location to location throughout Central Texas in an effort to avoid law enforcement detention. 

Ultimately, members of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force tracked Secor to a home in Kyle, after attempts to reach her were unsuccessful.

The child was recovered unharmed, authorities said.

“The collective efforts and persistence of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force reunited this child to the lawful custodial parent [and] serves as a reminder that we are a society of rules and law,” Robert R. Almonte, United States Marshal for the Western District of Texas, said in a statement.

The child will be turned over to authorities and handed over to his father once Warren arrives in Texas, the U.S. Marshals Service said. 

Secor is being held at the Hays County Jail and is pending extradition to Frederick, Maryland.