Dad accused of abducting his 6-year-old son wrote that God guided him, prosecutors say

The West Perrine father who violated court orders by not returning his son to his mother in August, then taking the boy to Canada, will remain in Miami-Dade Corrections custody while awaiting trial.

According to evidence presented by prosecutors at a bond hearing on Thursday, 45-year-old Jorge Morales said God guided him to abscond with 6-year-old Jorge “JoJo” Morales III.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer granted Morales no bond on the kidnapping charge he faces and $10,000 bond on the charge of concealing a minor contrary to court order. On Wednesday, Morales’ mother and alleged cohort, 69-year-old Lilliam Peña Morales: got no bond on a custodial interference charge and $7,500 bond on removing a child from the state.

Each also has a no-contact order for JoJo and the boy’s mother and Jorge’s ex-wife, Yanet Leal Concepcion.

Jorge Morales’ attorney argued for the $25,000 bond on the original arrest warrant, signed Sept. 1 by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michelle Delancy. The charges were custodial interference and concealing a minor contrary to court order. Also, a box had been checked next to “first appearance judge may not modify condition of release.”

Assistant State Attorney Amy Drever successfully argued that all anybody knew at the time of the Sept. 1 arrest warrant was that JoJo hadn’t been returned to his mother in line with family court orders. Where and why Jorge Morales had taken JoJo had yet to be discovered. That’s why, Drever said, they were raising the custodial interference charge to kidnapping.

Glazer found there was probable cause for the kidnapping charge and adjusted the bond.

READ MORE: Fugitive father and grandmother found with Miami-Dade child in Canada

Jorge Morales already had his bond from a 2020 charge — assault with a deadly weapon, Concepcion was the alleged victim — revoked on Sept. 6 —that was 11 days after he disappeared with JoJo.

‘I believe God is allowing this to happen’

Because he’d lost overnight privileges during his three-year custody fight with Concepcion, as Miami-Dade court records show, Morales was supposed to return JoJo to his mom by 9 p.m. Aug. 27. Morales and his mother picked up the child that morning.

Instead, Concepcion said she found only an empty apartment at 17870 SW 107th Ave. when she went there around 9:30 p.m.

Miami-Dade police detective Roberto Palmer testified at the bond hearing that Morales told him “that he had been in court motions with the ex-wife pertaining to him almost losing custody of the child, therefore he planned on leaving to Canada with the child.”

Palmer said Morales mailed his father a letter, an excerpt of which Drever displayed during the bond hearing.

“It is not my intention to hurt you,” the letter, dated Aug. 26, read. “But, we’ve been praying a long time for God to help us protect Jorgito and to put an end to the constant abuse we have had to endure, and, finally, He has answered. Though it’s not necessarily the answer we would have wanted, I accept His judgment and trust His will.”

The letter also reads: “I believe God is allowing this to happen as well, not only to give us justice, but to prepare us for the last days and the terrible crisis ahead, which most people are ignoring. But, we are not. We believe. I also believe that not too long after we have left, terrible things will begin to happen as they have been prophesied, and many will regret not having taken it seriously and heeded the advice.”

An Amber Alert, as well as local and national media coverage, accompanied the ensuing search. Palmer said Morales hired a driver to take them to Maine, and crossed into Canada illegally “through the woods ... where there is no border crossing.”

Palmer also said Morales started to answer to “Michael Villa” and told JoJo his new name was “Mike Villa.”

Surveillance video showing Morales and JoJo in a Houlton, Maine Walgreens on Aug. 29 was released on Oct. 27.

A woman who saw one of the media reports spotted Morales and JoJo as she shopped in a Moncton, New Brunswick, Walmart on Oct. 30. She called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and they took Morales and his mother into custody about 2,000 miles from that empty South Miami-Dade apartment.