NH Child Custody Issue Ends with Felony Charges: Cops

CONCORD, NH - A local man faces numerous charges after he took his children out of state and allegedly didn’t tell his wife that he planned on taking them away, according to police.

Mark R. Thompson, 46, of Summer Street in Penacook, NH, was arrested on Feb. 11, 2016, and charged with simple assault, domestic violence-simple assault, and three felony counts of interference with custody (of child).

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord NH Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

According to an arrest report and affidavit, on Feb. 8, an officer took a report from a woman claiming that she didn’t know where her three young children were after two of them didn’t get off the bus from school. A third child had another appointment that they attended, according to the report, but had not returned home. The family vehicle was also missing, according to the report.

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She later learned that Thompson allegedly picked up their children from school after taking the third to the appointment, something that she called “unusual,” and he reportedly wasn’t responding to text messages. The woman stated that the couple had been having issues, which made her concerned, according to the affidavit. She also alleged that during an argument about seven or eight days before, Thompson had allegedly shoved her in the shoulder. She stated she fell and twisted her knee, according to the report.

The woman stated that they had no friends and few family members but that Thompson’s mother lived in Massachusetts but she didn’t know where and didn’t have a number. She noted, however, that she had the number of another woman in Massachusetts that Thompson reportedly knew in Attleboro.

The detective asked her to call the woman and she did. According to the report, the woman in Massachusetts stated that Thompson was supposed to arrive that evening and spend the night there.

When Thompson arrived, according to the affidavit, he called police, and alleged that his wife was “verbally abusive” and he felt his children were in danger so he left with them. Thompson reportedly stated he wasn’t sure if he would be returning the next day due to the snowstorm, according to the detective.

The detective noted in the report an alleged timeline of Thompson driving to Massachusetts and noted that he had taken the children during the worst part of the storm.

Another officer called police in Attleboro and requested a welfare check of the children. Police reported that the children were fine. That information was also relayed to their mother, who reportedly stated she would contact an attorney in the morning.

The next day, Attleboro Police sent a copy of the welfare check report to Concord Police. The children were moved, according to the affidavit, to Thompson’s mother’s home in North Attleboro.

North Attleboro Police were then sent to the home to check on the children but Thompson had reportedly already left after receiving a call from his wife. The officer also called the woman in Massachusetts, who stated that Thompson told her he would not be returning to her home either, according to the affidavit.

Concord NH Police issued a missing/endangered children alert for Thompson and the three children and later, picked up a cellphone ping at about midnight near the I-95 Mansfield or Foxborough area.

At 1 a.m., according to the affidavit, Thompson reportedly texted a picture of the children sleeping to his wife. He was arrested later that day by Sharon Police.

On Feb. 11, he appeared before a judge in Norfolk County and waived extradition back to New Hampshire. He was held at the Dedham House of Corrections until police could pick him up.

According to detectives, Thompson allegedly stayed at a hotel in Foxborough, on Feb. 10.

When he was brought back to Concord, he was held on $5,000 cash bail and arraigned the next day.