SEQUIM — A woman who allegedly abducted her children from their father’s home in Sequim has been released from a California jail after Clallam County prosecutors decided not to extradite her.
Loretta J. Edberg, who was arrested May 1 in Montclair, Calif., on investigation of custodial interference, was released Monday from West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Her suspected accomplice, Anthony Charles Buchanan, was also released, deputy prosecutor Mark Nichols said.
Christopher D. Hanning, 10, and Joshua N. Hanning, 13, were found with their mother in Montclair, Calif., and were reunited with their father, Brian Hanning on May 2.
The Sequim Police Department began an investigation when the two children were taken from Sequim on April 30.
Nichols said Monday that the prosecuting attorney’s office is still investigating and has not decided whether to file formal charges against Edberg.
Brian Hanning said Monday that he was disappointed that Edberg was released.
“This isn’t a dog someone took — these are children,” he said.
“We need to make sure that people understand that it is not acceptable to do that.”
Nichols said the prosecutors had decided not to extradite Edberg in part because the situation had been remedied.
“In this situation the children are back with their custodial parent,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a crime, and it doesn’t mean we won’t file charges.
“We are still looking into this case.”
Nichols said if charges are filed, the prosecutors will deal with how to bring the suspects to court.
Complication
“Being outside the state obviously complicates things,” he said.
As he drove down to California to pick up his sons, Hanning said that he was confident Edberg was taking good care of the boys.
He and Edberg were never married but were together for seven years in the Montclair area, he said.
Hanning, who works now as a cook at Sequim Health & Rehabilitation, moved to Sequim in 2007 after they broke up.
Hanning said he has two other sons at home — 16 and 17 years old — and that he had raised four sons from a marriage prior to his relationship with Edberg.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
