Cooley pleads not guilty to kidnapping; Court order forbade her from seeing kids
Published 9:34 am Friday, October 19, 2018
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Izetta Cooley, 39
Izetta Rose Cooley, 39, of Moorhead pleaded not guilty on Thursday in Mower County District Court to two counts of felony kidnapping-to facilitate felony or flight and two counts of felony deprive of custody right-violation of court order-take minor.
Cooley became a kidnapping suspect after it was reported she had taken two children from a designated foster parent at a residence in the 200 block of Elm Street in Rose Creek on the evening of Sept. 29. According to the court complaint,A relative at the house said Cooley told him she was coming to get her kids, despite the Clay County Court having given custody of her children to Clay County Social Services.
The complaint states that Cooley, with assistance from her oldest child, Morgan Cooley, took two children from the house, even though the court order required them to remain at the Rose Creek residence.
Cooley was arrested on Oct. 2 at a residence in Moorhead, where law enforcement recovered the two children taken from Rose Creek as well as two of Cooley’s children reported missing out of Moorhead. Morgan Cooley turned himself in to Moorhead police on Oct. 5.
Cooley’s husband, Miguel Jay Cooley, is being held in the Mower County Jail on murder charges in the Sept. 23 shooting death of 20-year-old Gabriel Perez in Fargo, North Dakota.
Cooley’s pre-trial is scheduled for March 8, with a jury trial scheduled for March 18.