A Norfolk County grand jury has indicted a man who allegedly burst into his children’s foster home in Braintree almost two months ago and assaulted their foster mother before making his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son leave with him.
The indictment, issued July 3, charges Jon T. Lockwood, 55, with two counts of kidnapping by a relative and two counts of reckless endangerment of a child along with single counts of assault with intent to commit a felony, breaking and entering in the daytime to commit a felony, assault and battery on an elderly person and assault and battery.
Lockwood, who is being held in the county jail on $50,000 cash bail, pleaded not guilty during his Quincy District Court arraignment after he was returned to Massachusetts from Connecticut.
Lockwood is scheduled to be arraigned July 15 at 2 p.m. in Norfolk Superior Court, stated David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
According to Traub, Lockwood had previous addresses in Utah and Nevada but had been staying at a Foxboro hotel May 20 when he had a supervised visitation session at a Department of Children and Families facility in Weymouth early in the day.
Hours after this visit, Lockwood arrived at the Braintree foster home where his children were living and took them with him by force, the indictment alleges.
“The foster mother tried fighting off Lockwood, engaging in a tug-of-war with him for custody, but was unsuccessful,” Police Chief Russell Jenkins stated. “Several neighbors heard the commotion and came outside to investigate. One neighbor tried to chase Lockwood down the street.”
After Jenkins worked with Massachusetts State Police to issue an Amber Alert, which is employed when authorities believe that a child is at risk of serious injury or death, Lockwood was spotted about 100 miles away at a 7-Eleven convenience store in South Windsor, Ct. and taken into custody.
“The Amber Alert system again helped law enforcement safely recover children at great risk,” stated Morrissey, who credited Jenkins, Braintree detectives Charles Paris and Mark Sherrick, State Police detectives attached to his office and all those involved in coordinating the alert with securing the safety of the children.
Assistant District Attorney Lisa Beatty is prosecuting the case against Lockwood.
By Bob Aicardi
wickedlocal.com