By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A woman indicted this week in Hamilton County and wanted in 16 states for stealing checks and identities is now being sought in Virginia for allegedly kidnapping her 5-year-old son from foster care.

But Lottie Mae Stanley told the Enquirer Friday afternoon that she didn't abduct the boy. She said a relative turned him over to her. Stanley would not say where she was Friday, and was blocking the phone number she was calling from.

She also called a Hamilton County detective and promised to turn herself in soon.

Detective Sgt. Mike Horton, of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, said Stanley called him about 2:30 p.m. Friday.

"She told me that she had her 5-year-old son, Aaron, with her, that she missed him, that she wanted to spend some time with him before she turned herself in to authorities," Horton said.

Virginia state police officials said Stanley - who has eluded a nationwide network of police for six years and is accused of stealing more than a half million dollars - took the boy from his uncle's Halifax, Va., home Thursday.

The child was one of three children placed in the custody of Warren County Children's Services after sheriff's deputies in January broke up an alleged theft ring they said Stanley led out of a Deerfield Township apartment.

Sgt. David Cooper, of the Virginia State Police, said Stanley's children were in Halifax after a Warren County judge granted out-of-state visitation last week.

In a call from a cell phone Friday afternoon, Stanley said the boy was staying with her son and his live-in girlfriend.

"I went and got my little boy. (The girlfriend) called me and told me to 'Come and get your boy,' " Stanley said. "I missed my baby for the five months I was away from him."

Police said they believe she is in a white four-door Oldsmobile with temporary Virginia tags and may be with her husband, Aaron Telke, a 6-month-old infant and a 7-year-old boy, besides her son.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com