Winter Haven Police have arrested two people after it was discovered they concealed the location of 15 year old Kaleb Deckard while Police and his family searched for him.
Deckard was found safe after he called his mother telling her where he was located.
The 15-year-old was reported missing on March 5, 2012 after he failed to return home from school.
On March 9, 2012, Deckard contacted his mother asking her to pick him up from an area outside of Bartow.
Police then arrested Taron Todd, 19, of Bartow and his girlfriend Krista Walters, 20.
They were arrested for Interfering with Child Custody and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.
Todd is Deckard’s cousin and even though both Todd and Walters knew Police were looking for Deckard, they deliberately withheld information about his whereabouts.
Officials say that young Deckard, asked his cousin, Todd, if he could live with him and his girlfriend and that he would pay $325 a month in rent.
After agreeing, Deckard was picked up after school on March 5 by Walters.
Later in the day, Deckard was taken to an orange grove off Transport Rd. in Bartow and told by Todd to “lay low” for a while.
Todd reportedly told Deckard that since he would be reported missing, the police would most likely search their house looking for him.
The 15-year-old said he stayed in the grove the entire time he was reported missing.
According to interviews, Todd and Walters knew where Deckard was located, but deliberately withheld the information as a “personal vendetta” against Deckard’s mother.
