Milwaukee father, mother charged in connection with incident that prompted Amber Alert

MILWAUKEE -- 21-year-old Deangelo Gaines and 21-year-old Kushay Kubera are now charged in connection with an Amber Alert incident involving a 22-month-old boy. Gaines faces felony charges of fleeing or eluding an officer and second-degree recklessly endangering safety. Kubera faces a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer. Authorities say once the boy was found safe, they started to question the mother's story.

Gaines and Kubera are the father and mother of a boy for whom an Amber Alert was issued last week. Police say they determined the mother of the child intentionally misled police as they investigated this case — and provided a false account of what occurred.

According to the criminal complaint against the two, a citizen working on the US Highway 45 project called police around 6:15 a.m. on Thursday, December 17th to "report he witnessed a man beating a woman in the parking lot of the JCPenney warehouse" at Burleigh. When an officer arrived on the scene, he exited the squad and ordered the car's driver to "Stop! Show me your hands!" The complaint says the "driver ignored these commands and accelerated away."

The complaint indicates another marked squad showed up on the scene and activated its lights, but the driver of the car "ignored these signals and increased its speed." Officers lost sight of the vehicle as it got to 124th Street.

Kubera remained at the JCPenney site and was questioned by police. The complaint says Kubera "told police an elaborate story about how the child was taken by a man she had only met recently and whose name she did not know." Kubera's story prompted an Amber Alert being issued. But that story later turned out to be false.

Around 10 a.m. that same day, the car that sped away from the JCPenney warehouse was located near 100th and Mill Road in Milwaukee. A Milwaukee detective "pulled next to the car and told the occupants to get out." When she exited her squad and approached the car on foot, "the car suddenly came accelerating towards her, squealing its tires. She had to jump out of the car's path to avoid being struck." The driver got away.

Several hours later, the complaint says "police came to believe the child was in a house near 49th and Center Streets in Milwaukee. Police located the missing child as well as Deangelo Gaines, the child's father."

When questioned by police, Gaines told investigators "he had driven Kubera to work at Penneys, and the two had argued in the car and then in the lot. Their child was with them, and he told Kubera he was not going to watch the child that day, and he gave the child to her." Kubera later convinced Gaines to come back and take the child.

Police determined Kubera's original story was bogus when a "detective told her that he believed she was lying to protect defendant Gaines, at which point she started crying and admitted that she had been lying all along."

The complaint indicates the vehicle Gaines was driving during this ordeal was reported stolen out of Fort Atkinson. Whether Gaines had any role in that theft, or whether he knew the vehicle was stolen is still being investigated.

In court Tuesday, cash bond of $10,000 was set for Gaines. Kubera pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor obstruction charge and was released on a $250 recognizance bond. Both will be back in court on December 29th.

Gaines faces up to ten years in prison and $25,000 in fines if convicted. Kubera faces up to nine months in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Neither Gaines nor Kubera have a prior criminal history.