Wrongly arrested mother reunited with sons before Easter

Sarah Brookbank Cameron Knight
Cincinnati Enquirer
Ashley Foster was arrested April 11 in the Target parking lot on Beechmont Avenue. A week later, she was released from jail and all charges were dropped

The Ohio mother who spent a week in jail after being wrongly arrested was reunited with her two sons before Easter. 

Ashley Foster was approached by a Hamilton County Deputy on April 11 in the parking lot of Target on Beechmont Avenue. He told her there was a warrant out for her arrest for trafficking in heroin in Brown County. But it was a case of mistaken identity. 

Foster was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center, where she sat for the next five days.

David Daugherty with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said the deputies attempted to contact family and others to pick up the children, but contacted Hamilton County Job and Family Services when no one was available.

The children were later given to their fathers, according to Hamilton County Jobs and Family Services.

"It's a sad story," Daugherty said. "It's awful."

When a warrant is issued for someone's arrest and that person is found in another county, they are regularly held until they can be transferred back to the county where the charges were issued.

According to Brown County Prosecutor Zac Corbin, once Foster was back in Brown County, the Aberdeen officer went to the jail to interview her and "realized he had the wrong person."

Reunited before the holiday 

According to Fox19, Foster was reunited with her kids first thing Friday morning after a quick inspection from Clermont County Job & Family Services, who gave her home a 10-minute once-over and told her she was all clear for the kids to return.

Foster, through tears, said Friday she hugged and kissed her two boys as soon as she got out of jail. She told Fox19 that she barely slept.

”Tomorrow we are doing a little Easter get together for the two boys. Both of the fathers are coming. We’re gonna do it as one big family," Foster told Fox19 this weekend.

Foster will meet with an attorney Monday. In the meantime, she wants everyone to keep in mind that never in her wildest nightmare could she have imagined this happening to her, and it could, in theory, happen to you as well.

Ashley Foster with her sons

Enquirer media partner Fox19 contributed to this report.