By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
A Beaufort County girl abducted from a Virginia hospital by her father was located in Manning, S.C., about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday.
Alexis Cartwright, an 11-year-old Bath native, was removed from Cumberland Hospital in New Kent County, Va., about 3 p.m. Sunday by her father, Lemuel Cartwright, without the permission of the hospital or the Beaufort County Department of Social Services.
The department has legal custody of the younger Cartwright, who was placed at the Virginia hospital because of certain medical needs related to her being an insulin-dependent diabetic patient.
Officers with the Manning Police Department located the Cartwrights in a CVS Pharmacy parking lot in the South Carolina town. They were taken into custody without incident. The younger Cartwright was in “good condition,” according to a press release from the New Kent County Sheriff’s Office, which is heading the investigation of the incident.
The Beaufort County Department of Social Services is making arrangements for the younger Cartwright’s return, while the elder Cartwright is being held on a federal warrant. He is scheduled to appear in federal court today, the release said.
The New Kent County Sheriff’s Office has felony warrants charging the elder Cartwright with abduction and child neglect.
Wednesday morning, the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division said it received a tip that the Cartwrights were in the Myrtle Beach area. On Monday, the New Kent County Sheriff’s Office said there was reason to believe the Cartwrights were traveling toward Bath.