Law enforcement officials located Selma resident Loraine Hale Flennory and her 10-year-old daughter Shedeka Sims, after family members reported Flennory had kidnapped Sims from a family reunion on July 4.

In a news release, Selma police investigator Lt. Curtis Muhannad said the two had been located shortly after noon Thursday at a residence in Panama City, Fla.

Muhannad said the Panama City Police Department and the Bay County Child Protective Service were able to make contact with Flennory, who was arrested on a warrant.

The warrant was placed on her by the Selma Police Department for interference with custody, which is a class C felony in Alabama.

Muhannad said investigators began closing in on Flennory after information about Flennory, Sims and the car they were believed to be traveling in was released to local media outlets Wednesday evening.

“Once the information about these two and their vehicle was released to the media we received calls stating the car was located at a dealership in Montgomery,” Muhannad said. “ So, we knew the vehicle had changed.”

Officers from the Montgomery Police Department watched the vehicle parked at the Brewbaker Motors dealership, in the event Flennory and Sims returned to pick it up.

On Tuesday, Muhannad said Flennory filed a fraudulent child abuse claim in Bay County, Fla. against Sims’ father, who has custody of Sims along with the child’s grandmother.

“This claim she filed with the Bay County Child Protective Service on Tuesday was so fraudulent that is raised their suspicions,” Muhannad said. “She had claimed the father had beaten the daughter, leaving her with cuts around her eyes and bruises on her face, but there was no evidence of this on her.”

Believing Flennery filed the claim to illegally gain custody of her daughter, BCCPS officials scheduled a time to meet with her Thursday afternoon, at which time she was taken into custody by the Panama City Police Department.

Sims was brought back to Selma Thursday evening by a member of the Selma Police Department, according to Muhannad.

“It’s obviously great for her father and grandmother to have her back home safe and unharmed,” Muhannad said. “And it means a lot to this community to have a kidnapped child back home safely.”

Flennory is currently being held at the Bay County Detention Center on no bond and is awaiting an extradition hearing, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday.

If Flennory waves her extradition, she will return to Selma, where Muhannad said she could face up to 10 years in prison.