MDSO: Woman accused of taking boy from mother at MIA claimed ‘God told her to do it’

By Samantha Sosa, Matthew Garcia, Rubén Rosario

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    MIAMI, Florida (WSVN) — A 23-year-old woman was arrested after, authorities said, she tried to walk away with a 4-year-old boy at Miami International Airport and then refused to release the child to his mother.

7News cameras captured a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputy carrying the child as several deputies and the boy’s mother walked across a terminal, Tuesday morning.

According to MDSO, Alvina Omisiri Agba offered to help soothe the boy, who was crying while standing in line with his mother at a security checkpoint at around 4 a.m.

But what seemed like a kind gesture quickly became alarming when, the arrest report states, the boy’s mother noticed the suspect leaving the line while holding her son.

The child’s mother followed them, and when she confronted Agba, investigators said, the suspect claimed the child was hers and wrapped her arms and legs around him, preventing him from moving. The child’s mother attempted to pull her son away and was shoved by Agba during the struggle, the report states.

Speaking with 7News through a translator, GlobalX Air employee Naylet Montano described how she stepped in to help the boy and his mother.

“I ran to see what was going on,” she said in Spanish.

Montano said she was at a nearby counter when she saw the confrontation unfold.

“I saw a woman on the floor grabbing onto the child tightly, and in that moment, I felt the child was in danger. I grabbed him, ran with him, and she came after me in an attempt to take him. I wouldn’t let her. I ran behind the counter and crouched down, shielding the child,” she said in Spanish.

Employees called 911 and said Agba ran but was taken into custody at another checkpoint.

The employee who helped save the child said she’s a mother and once she saw the child appearing to be in danger, she just wanted to do what she could to protect him.

During a post-Miranda interview, Agba told detectives she believed she was helping calm the child and said she acted because “God told her to do it,” the report states.

Agba was charged with interference with custody and battery.

She was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade.

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