Couple Sentenced In Child Abduction From Forest Hills Foster Care Center

Two parents who abducted their eight children from a Forest Hills foster care center were sentenced to 60 days in jail last week, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Shanel Nadal and her husband, Nephra Payne,

The incident sparked a manhunt throughout the northeast for the missing parents and children. They were finally caught more than a week after the abduction when their vehicle was found by police in Pennsylvania. At the time, investigators said both parents and children were preparing to sleep in the dirty van.

Eventually they were apprehended by a U.S. Marshals task force that included New York Police Department detectives.

In addition to the 60 days in jail, Payne and Nadal were sentenced two three years probation.

“Today’s sentence is a just and fair disposition of this case,” Brown said. “The defendants are held accountable for their actions and the children will be spared having to testify against their parents at trial.”