2-year-old at center of Amber Alert found safe, father in custody, Rome police say

WSBTV.com News Staff
·2 min read

A Georgia 2-year-old at the center of an Amber Alert has been found safe.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation activated a Levi’s Call, the state’s Amber Alert system, for 2-year-old out of Rome.

Rome police believed the boy was in danger after his father Jackie Tucker kidnapped him around 10 a.m. Monday.

Police tracked Tucker via his cellphone and found him with the boy near Sam Harris Road. Police said Tucker surrendered and the 2-year-old is safe and unharmed.

Tucker is charged with kidnapping, cruelty to a child, obstruction of a 911 call and battery under the Family Violence Act.

“Multiple agencies responded and deployed rapidly to bring this incident to a safe closure. The Rome Police Department would like to thank the agencies involved for their quick response and assistance,” police said.

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Georgia’s Amber Alert system is a “Levi’s Call.” The Levi’s Call was named after 11-year-old Levi Frady, a Forsyth County sixth-grader who was found dead in the woods in a neighboring county in 1997. Frady’s murder has never been solved.

Before Levi’s Call can be activated, the following alert criteria must be met:

  • Law enforcement officials have a reasonable belief that an abduction has occurred.

  • Law enforcement officials believe that the child is in imminent danger or serious bodily injury or death.

  • Enough descriptive information exists about the victim and the abductor for law enforcement to issue a Levi’s Call.

  • The victim of the abduction is a child age 17 years or younger.

  • The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the child abduction and Amber Alert flags, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center system.

Once the abduction is confirmed and investigators determine that the case meets alert criteria, they contact the GBI regional office.