Woman arrested day after 2 children found safe following abduction in Farmers Branch

Two children who were in the back seat of a car when it was stolen Sunday afternoon in Farmers Branch were found safe, and a woman has been arrested.

Authorities had been searching for Preston Jeremy Scarlett, a 5-year-old boy, and Princess Janelle Scarlett, a 4-year-old girl. The two children were in a car about 3:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of Sigma Road, near Midway and Alpha roads.

The owner of the car, a relative of the children, was checking their mail when someone got in the car and drove off, police said. A police spokesman declined to say how that person was related to the children.

Authorities don’t know whether the person who took the car knew the children were in the backseat at the time of the robbery.

Dallas police found the children safe at a retail location in the 4800 block of Maple Avenue, near Medical District Drive, in the Love Field area of Dallas, Farmers Branch police spokesman Steven Rutherford said. The children were found shortly after the Amber Alert was issued, he said.

Rutherford said at the time that he had no information on whether the car had been recovered.

On Monday afternoon, Farmers Branch police arrested 25-year-old Andrea Marie Francois in the 7900 block of North Stemmons Freeway in Dallas. Francois faces two counts of kidnapping and one count of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.