Father named in statewide Amber Alert arrested Wednesday morning

One day after the Washington State Patrol interviewed and released two parents in Spokane County on Tuesday evening in relation to an Amber Alert issued from Seattle, troopers then relocated the father Wednesday and arrested him for violating a protection order and making threats to harm.

A King County judge deemed that four children were in imminent danger from their parents, Nicholas Antonie, 42, and Crystal Lane Antonie, 38, on Tuesday and ordered the children to be turned over to Child Protective Services, according to law enforcement officials.

But prior to the ruling, the parents took the children in a motor home, according to law enforcement officials. The Washington State Patrol said the family possibly was driving north of Seattle or out of state to Tennessee or Ohio.

Nicholas Antonie reportedly was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and threatened to harm social workers, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Seattle police said he was withholding necessary medication from his children.

WSP received several calls from people identifying the RV on Interstate 90 as it entered Spokane County, according to Trooper Jeff Sevigney, a WSP spokesman. The RV exited the interstate onto state Route 904, and a Cheney police officer stopped the vehicle west of the city around 7 p.m.

WSP troopers quickly arrived at the scene and the incident was resolved without injuries, Sevigney said.

Both Nicholas Antonie and Crystal Lane Antonie were taken into custody, questioned and released Tuesday evening. The children were turned over to Child Protective Services.

Investigators determined later that night they had probable cause to arrest Nicholas Antonie for violating a protection order and making threats to harm, according to Trooper Rick Johnson. Troopers began searching for his motor home around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday after someone reported spotting his vehicle along I-90 near Ellensburg.

Around 9:30 a.m. a second person reported spotting the vehicle driving on westbound I-90 near Easton. Troopers arrested Nicholas Antonie around 10:15 a.m. in the North Bend area, according to Johnson. Troopers did not recover any weapons from the motor home and arrested Antonie without incident. Crystal Lane Antonie reportedly was dropped off in Moses Lake several hours earlier. .

Antonie was booked into King County Correctional Facility around noon on three felony domestic violence harassment charges, according to jail records.

He had previously been released from the King County Jail on Nov. 29 on a $35,000 bond for two malicious mischief charges.