Chad Eastlack is being held n the Missoula County jail without bail. (MCSO photo)
(photo credit: Randolph County (NC) Sheriff's Office)MISSOULA -
The Amber Alert issued in North Carolina for an eight-month-old baby, John Aston Lorell Eastlack, was canceled Sunday after authorities found him safe in Missoula.
Captain Derrick Hill with the Randolph County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina -- where the infant is from -- confirmed with MTN News that the child and his parents were found around 3 a.m. Sunday at the Howard Johnson hotel on Brooks Street in Missoula.
Missoula police officers were checking hotels for the stolen vehicle described in the Amber Alert when officers spotted the silver van in the parking lot of the hotel.
Missoula social services workers have taken custody of the baby, and will coordinate with the Randolph County social services for his return to North Carolina, according to Hill.
Police in Missoula arrested the boy's father, Chad Eastlack, for stealing the van while the child's mother -- Mother Penny Worthy -- was released on scene. However, she is not allowed to see her child.
Chad Eastlack will be extradited to North Carolina where he'll face additional charges.
Investigators said the baby boy was taken by Eastlack and Worthy last week and the Randolph County Department of Social Services contacted the Sheriff's Office to alert them on Tuesday.
The child was in the custody of social services but was put back in the mother's care at the time.
Officials say the boy's father was ordered by the court not to be with the mother and child together, unless it was a supervised visit.
Chad Eastlack is being held n the Missoula County jail without bail and is set to appear in Missoula Justice Court on Monday afternoon.
We do not yet know why Eastlack fled to Montana.
