FULDA - Jacob Nicholas Vortherms of Sioux Falls, S.D., was arrested Saturday in Fulda after an Amber Alert was issued for Vortherms’ 1-year-old son.
Sioux Falls Police officers were dispatched to the Old Chicago restaurant in Sioux Falls for a report of a family dispute at approximately 8:18 p.m. Saturday. The initial report said a disorderly male was in the parking lot screaming for one of the female employees inside the restaurant.
Although the man left before police arrived, the female identified the male as Vortherms, the biological father of her three children, ages 9, 6 and 18 months. The woman told officers the couple did not have a child custody agreement in place.
The woman told officers she was upset because Vortherms had barged his way into her daycare provider’s residence and took their 18-month-old son without permission. She also said she’d received text messages from Vortherms saying she would never see the children again and that he was en route to Fulda to retrieve the two older children from their grandmother. She also told officers she believed Vortherms was intoxicated.
Officers began to search for the child by geo-locating Vortherms’ cell phone. An Amber Alert was issued around 10 p.m. for the child and was broadcast regionally. The trace of the cell phone revealed Vortherms was in the Adrian/Fulda area. Local law enforcement was contacted to assist in the search and ensured the other two children were safe.
At approximately 11:30 p.m., authorities in Fulda came into contact with Vortherms and the child, at which time Vortherms was arrested on felony arrest warrants issued from Minnehaha County, S.D. The child was unharmed and returned to his mother.
Near the start of the investigation, Sioux Falls police looked for Vortherms at the woman’s residence, where officers discovered that Vortherms had likely broken into the residence and vandalized it, causing approximately $5,000 in damages.
Vortherms is charged with two counts of second-degree burglary, one count of intentional damage to property and one count of abuse or cruelty of a minor under the age of 7. Vortherms is being held on a $50,000 bond at the Lyon County jail pending extradition to South Dakota.
