LORDSBURG, NM — Five children are safe after New Mexico State Police arrested two suspects in an alleged kidnapping case in Texas.

Around 2:15 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 16, NMSP officers in Deming received a follow-up message — a BOLO — for a car with Texas plates driven by someone who allegedly took their five children and left the state. Officers learned that someone had reported the children as “missing and endangered.”

NMSP claimed the use of an automatic license plate reader lifted the car. Officers followed the car to Love’s Travel Stop in Lordsburg and found Qwaunice Tippitt. They identified Tippitt as the children’s biological mother. Officers also found Charles Jones with her.

Tippitt and Jones now face kidnapping charges.

The children are now in the custody of Texas Child Protective Services.