Mindy McCready: ‘What I Did Was to Protect My Child’
EmailThe FBI accused her of “parental abduction,” but Mindy McCready told ABC News’ Andrea Canning that she believed she did nothing wrong in violating a court order and fleeing with her five-year-old son to Arkansas.
U.S. Marshalls said they later found the country singer and the boy hiding in a closet, which McCready denies.
McCready said she would “not ever think that me taking my own child, that I carried for nine months, that I gave birth to in the hospital by myself would ever be breaking the law.”
“What I did was to protect my child, and there’s not a person in the world that’s going to tell me that that is wrong,” she said.
McCready, who is pregnant with twins, said her son was anguished when, she said, U.S. Marshalls came to get the boy with a SWAT team-like force last Friday.
“He was screaming, ‘Please don’t touch me, please don’t touch me, please don’t touch my mommy. Please, leave me alone, I want to be with my mommy,’ ” McCready remembered.
An official with the U.S. Marshalls said that authorities used standard operating procedure when taking Zander into custody and had a social worker with them.
“There was no forced entry made. No battering ram,” said David Rahbany, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshall for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
McCready’s mother, Gayle Inge, is Zander’s guardian. McCready has alleged that her son faced physical and emotional danger at Inge’s Florida home, a claim Inge has denied. The two have been engaged in a custody battle over Zander for years.
McCready said she grew so desperate that, during a visit to the Cape Coral, Fla. home of her father — Zander’s grandfather, who shares custody with the grandmother although they are divorced – she took her son and left.
“I know there are rules that are written down that we’re supposed to follow, and guidelines that we’re supposed to follow, but there’s a difference between right and wrong, and right and wrong in my opinion should come first, always,” McCready said.
Inge was appointed Zander’s guardian in 2007 while McCready served six months in prison for a probation violation related to an earlier drug charge.
McCready said she was pleased with a juvenile court judge’s custody ruling this week. Details of the ruling have been sealed. Zander is currently in foster care.
Watch more with McCready on “Good Morning America” tomorrow and watch the full interview on “20/20″ at 10 p.m. ET.
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children being taken away from their mothers,,,,, my sister has been going thru custody battle for 4 yrs. she has been financially ruined (lost her house, had to file br) now she has to pay (ON TOP OF MNTHLY CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS ) to see her daughters, for supervised visitation…… 5 judges have recused themselves from this case. 3 lawyers have told her it would cost so much money & time that she should just give up & also she should sue the attorney who represented her for every penney, also sue the Delaware courts because she literally has gotten screwed, they told her she is the perfect example of the system rich & poor.. My sister has a very good job is going back to school for her masters degree, but she has been railroaded from day one & her childrens father has alot of money & has to have a contact within the courts, trust me this could be a movie, when I tell people the whole story they don’t know what to say they are left speechless, but because she is not a famous & wealthy person I cannot get anyone to look at this. Maybe you will. I will keep trying I contact as many people as I can. When I saw Miss Mcready’s interview, I understand her 100%, these courts are not working to keep BOTH parents in the kid’s life. Like they have told my sister they have been doing this to Men for years & years, now you know how it feels. Nice huh? Please Please will you at least listen to our story? There are 2 young girls that do not see there mother because of our court system that has allowed their father to manipulate & stalk thru the court system. This is truly a personal vendetta & the courts are allowing it. We need to stop this from happening!!!!!!I will never give up I will find someone who has the guts to bring this forward maybe it will be you……. Thank you for your time I appreciate it. Sincerely Patricia Guilfoil
Posted by: Patricia Guilfoil | December 8, 2011, 7:55 am 7:55 am
i am going through this my self trying to sue the state traffics your children for profit. they were getting 10,000 dollers for my son and any child that has as much as adhd gets some kind of drug therfrore ssi and 10’000 dollers for them. i have evdence to prove everything need good attorney. yeah right no one wants to go against the goverment to help with out 10;000 in advance so the system wins again, yet obama gets up there everyday and says how to fix ssi stop paying the state for the abduction of our kids.
Posted by: gail wright | December 8, 2011, 10:16 am 10:16 am
It’s extremely rare that courts will take a child away from a mother. This lady must have done something really bad and must really be a danger to the child if a court decided to give custody to someone else. I wish these articles about this would explain the other side of the story which is why the child was taken away in the first place.
Posted by: michael1_4 | December 8, 2011, 10:42 am 10:42 am
I worked in Nashville, Tn during the time of Miss McCready’s rise to fame in the country music business. I have worked around her and kept up with her through the years. Although I can understand her passion for her son, her behavior going back as far as the beginning of her music career is atrocious. She was and continues to be a person that often states she is ‘not governed by the laws and regulations of common people.’ She ‘s lost, pure and simple. Numerous instances of drug behavior, arrests, attempted suicide, child abandonment of Zander while she chased men, money, fame, and drugs led to the courts removing that child from her influence. This entire charade is nothing more than another weak ploy to attract publicity and attention. in order to get help, one must first admit there is a problem. That hasn’t happened yet, and hell hasn’t frozen over either. I pray for the little boy (Zander) and the new children who are being tramatized before they are even born.
Posted by: Steven | December 8, 2011, 11:06 am 11:06 am
Grandparents were there for the child when she was playing in drugs. She wasn’t about protecting him then. If she believes he is in harms way, then she needs to do things the right way, but her behavior just demonstrates she still all about herself. She screaming for attention for HER not the boy.
Posted by: Shari | December 8, 2011, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
If what Mindy says is true, that she was taking her son to protect him from abuse, then I am on her side, although the result of what she did was somewhat inevitable. If she knew for a fact that her son was being abused in his living situation, what was she supposed to do? Call the cops or DCF? Who were the authorities going to believe – Mindy, who has a criminal record or the child’s legal guardian who the court placed the child with? The tables could have been turned on Mindy if she had called the authorities – they could have accused her of making a false report, which is itself a crime. I feel badly for this poor mother…what a horrifying situation for both her and her son. Really, she should have hired an attorney to get the right solution in this very difficult case. But at the same time I understand how she must have felt if her boy was being hurt.
Posted by: momwhounderstands | December 8, 2011, 9:53 pm 9:53 pm
Isn’t she a drug addict? She needs help, not the custody of her children.
Posted by: hector | December 9, 2011, 2:45 am 2:45 am
Good luck I hope the judge fine in you favor I will keep you in my pray that you get you son back for Christmas that will be the greatest gift you Gould receive thake care and keep you faith up.God Bless you and Merry Christmas Ann
Posted by: Ann | December 9, 2011, 10:58 pm 10:58 pm
It is a good thing to know that in today’s America it is OK to kidnapp Your kid from there leagal gardian go on the run have a story run on national T.V with allegations made against the leagal gardian, with no evidence and ABC runs it. McReedy Kidnapped a chiled and ran accross state lines she should not be given a new custody hearing, but she should be facing criminal charges.
Posted by: Jordan Miller | December 10, 2011, 1:12 am 1:12 am