Manchester Couple's Baby Released, But Ordeal In NC Isn't Over

MANCHESTER, NJ — A Manchester Township couple is headed home to New Jersey with their 9-month-old son following a three-week battle that began with their arrests following a traffic stop in North Carolina. But the family’s ordeal is not over.

Kaila Boulware, 27, and Raymond Cheley Sykes, 34, are still faced with legal challenges both in North Carolina and in New Jersey following the Dec. 3 incident, where they were separated from their son, Truth Imanuel.

They allege authorities claimed they were homeless and mentally unstable, hit Sykes with a baton on the arm and face, and sent Boulware into the cold without her shoes, wallet or cell phone after she was charged and released on a summons.

Montgomery County Sheriff Chris Watkins says the couple was arrested on misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession and that their son was turned over to the child protection unit of the North Carolina Department of Social Services over what officers said was a "lack of safety and possible neglect."

A Montgomery County judge released the baby to the care of Sykes’s mother following a hearing Monday, NJ.com reported. Their custody case has been transferred from North Carolina's social services department to the New Jersey Department of Child Permanency and Protection for further investigation.

A video posted by Pastor Sherri Harris Allgood showed the reunion outside the courthouse on Monday. But even as they rejoiced, Boulware said the case had been referred to New Jersey for investigation.

Allgood, whose term as mayor of Troy ended just days after the couple's arrest, had been advocating for the couple and pushing for the baby to be returned to his parents.

"If this does not warrant a public outcry in Montgomery County, I don’t know what will," Allgood said in one post. "I am totally embarrassed by the conduct of our sheriff department and DSS."

Boulware, a professional photographer who is the communications director for Tree House Cultural Arts, a food distribution and arts program inNew Brunswick, said North Carolina’s social services workers had claimed the family was homeless and the couple was mentally unstable, even though the arrest report lists their hometown as Manchester, New Jersey.

"They were considered homeless and planless because they did not have a NC residence," Allgood said.

A request for comment from the North Carolina Department of Social Services has not been answered.

Sykes, who also is a professional photographer, also faces misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and assault on a law enforcement officer, allegedly the result of a fight between him and one of the sheriff's deputies. He and Boulware, who are Rutgers University graduates, said one deputy hit him with a baton on the arm and in the face, leaving a serious bruise on his upper arm. Sykes said he was strip-searched at the county facility.

The ordeal began in the early hours of Dec. 3, as the couple was driving with their son and their two dogs to Florida to see family.

In a 90-minute video posted to Facebook, the couple said they had stopped to rest after hours of driving, but after a nap, Boulware said she felt energized and resumed driving. A short time later, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies Preston Sweeney and John C. Watkins pulled them over, saying their taillight was white instead of amber.

One deputy said he was going to search the van, and Boulware said they were pulled out of the van after they questioned whether the deputies needed a warrant for a search.

"I said, 'Please, my baby is in the car,' " Boulware said, but said Watkins handcuffed her and her back to his car. As he did, she said she saw Sweeney holding Sykes, whose arms were up, at gunpoint.

"I was praying," Sykes said. "I knew death was right behind me."

Sweeney then took his baton and hit Sykes in the face and his arm, the couple allege. A photo the couple shared on Facebook showed a significant bruise on his arm.

"They said he got into a fight with the deputy," Boulware said.

The two said they sat in the deputies’ cars while a social services worker and the animal control officer responded to take care of the couple’s son and dogs. She alleges Watkins taunted her, saying "You’re never going to see it (her son) again."

"He was calling our baby an 'it,' " Boulware said.

Sykes said one of the deputies "coached" the social services worker on what to say, saying "they’re homeless, they’re crazy."

"They said we didn't have food or water in the car," Boulware said in a YouTube video she posted Dec. 19. The couple was able to pay the impound fees to retrieve their minivan on Dec. 7, and part of the video shows there's bread and jelly and snacks for her and Sykes, and food and water for the dogs. She noted she has been exclusively breastfeeding Truth, who was born March 6. "I am his source of food," she said. She was not permitted to see him or feed him in the first 24 hours after the arrest, she alleges.

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There is no video of the arrests, Sheriff Watkins confirmed in an email. In a statement, he said the van was stopped in Troy, North Carolina, because it was "being driven in a manner, place and time that was suspicious to the deputy." The van also was not properly registered, the sheriff said.

Watkins said the deputies smelled marijuana coming from the van, and that Sykes punched the deputy. He said Sweeney and John Watkins found marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the van.

Jason L. Keith, the couple’s North Carolina attorney, told NJ.com the material was CBD tea, not marijuana. Keith did not respond to a telephone message seeking additional information.

The arrest report said Boulware was charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. She also was charged with "some related traffic violations," Sheriff Watkins said.

Sykes was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, all misdemeanor charges according to the arrest report.

"Child Protection Services of DSS was contacted regarding the lack of safety and possible neglect of the child," Sheriff Watkins said. He said Sykes and Boulware were not injured during the arrest and did not request medical attention.

"It is the duty, responsibility and obligation of any law enforcement officer to do their job. If you are clearly and substantially breaking the law you will be charged or arrested those are the duties and obligations we have. If you are endangering or neglecting minor children, it is also our responsibility and obligation to intervene and refer to Child Protection Services," he said.

Sykes, in the couple’s Facebook video, said Sweeney asked him if he wanted medical attention but that he declined, fearful of being separated from his wife and son.

Boulware said the treatment she received after being arrested was worse.

She received a summons for the charges and was released. But she did not have her shoes — she had been driving barefoot and her shoes were still in the van, and she said Watkins did not allow her to get them. She did not have her phone or wallet, which were still in the van, which was impounded.

Boulware said she had to beg for basic information about where the family’s van had been towed, and where the social services office was located.

"They wouldn't even let her use the phone at the station," Sykes said.

"He was pushing me out the door," Boulware said of the officer she spoke with, trying to get information on the whereabouts of her son and the van. It was still dark when she was released, and she walked from the sheriff’s department to the social services office, about a quarter of a mile away, barefoot.

Once she arrived there, "they interrogated me," Boulware said.

Boulware said they asked her what she was doing there, whether she was a sovereign citizen, and if she was a Muslim (the couple is Jewish). She said they were put through multiple hoops, starting with proving he was their son. Boulware had given birth to their son at home, and he did not have a birth certificate.

"We paid $750 for an overnight DNA test," she said. After the DNA test that proved they were Truth’s parents, the social services office required they pass drug tests.

"We took a private drug test," Boulware said, instead of waiting three weeks for results from the test social services offered. Then he said they told her they said the couple needed a mental health screening, which they passed.

Social services officials, who filed a petition claiming the couple was homeless and did not have a plan for their son, also declined to release Truth to the care of a family member who lives in North Carolina because Boulware had posted Sykes’s bail so he could be released from the county jail.

"They said he was dangerous and because of that our son couldn’t be released to Aunt Gloria," Boulware said.

In addition to the separation from their son, one of the couple’s dogs, a puppy named Manuela, died while in the custody of animal services. Boulware said she believes the puppy died of loneliness because it was separated from the family. They buried the puppy in North Carolina.

A GoFundme created by Boulware’s best friend has raised more than $30,000 to help cover the costs of their motel stay during the fight to get Truth released to the family, as well as legal bills and additional costs, such as the impound fee for the van.

The experience has galvanized them to demand an investigation of the North Carolina Department of Social Services and they have asked anyone else who has had similar experiences with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to contact them.

"These people need to be held accountable for their actions,” Sykes said. “Whatever training criteria they have needs to be gone over from the bottom to the top."

"There needs to be change at all levels," he said. "I shouldn't be strip-searched for a misdemeanor crime."

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