PICKENS — An 8-year old Pickens child is safe following an ordeal in which she
was taken from her mother and transported out of state. Donnie Lee Shelton, 46, of
124 Sunset Drive in Pickens, has been arrested and charged in the incident.
According to the Pickens County Sheriff ’s Office, deputies were called to a home on
Ravenwood Lane in Pickens about a domestic disturbance at the residence. Deputies believe
that on Monday at around 6 p.m., a man came to the home and kicked in the door. The victim
told officers it was her exhusband and that she had been separated from him for a year
and a half. She also told deputies that she had an order of protection on her ex-husband and provided
documents to deputies. Deputies say the victim then said the man entered the home
that she and her two children shared and grabbed the couple’s 8-year-old daughter and left.
Warrants were issued for Shelton, and he was charged with violation of custody order,
assault and battery first degree, criminal domestic violence, trespassing and burglary.
An Amber alert was issued by the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
The alert was canceled after officers with the Corbin City (Ken.) Police called local authorities
and said that Shelton had been arrested at a local hospital. Officers say that Shelton had taken
the girl to the emergency room of the hospital after the child had complained of stomach
pain. The child is now back with her mother, authorities say. Shelton is currently being
held in Kentucky. No date for extradition has been set, according to the PCSO.