Parents interrupt alleged kidnapping

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According to Lt. Thomas Gagnon, Paula Fobert-Gately, 55, entered a Sea Street home at 2 a.m. Monday, picked up an 11-month-old infant and took the child outside the house.

The child’s parents were taking a walk at the time and were not in the house, Gagnon said, adding that caretakers in the home were sleeping when Fobert-Gately entered the property.

The parents told police that when they returned to their home they found Fobert-Gately on their back deck holding their baby. Before Fobert-Gately could leave with the infant, the father managed to pull the baby from her. The suspect then fled, Gagnon said.

Officer Eric Geake responded to the incident and reported no injuries to the baby or the parents, Gagnon said. Some minor items in the home were reported missing.

In an effort to locate Fobert-Gately, Harwich police called in assistance from Chatham police and found her a few minutes later walking along the street in Harwich Port.

“When police asked why she kidnapped the child, she simply said she heard a child crying,” Gagnon said.

Gagnon said Fobert-Gately had been found by police to be acting erratically in the recent past. She was involved in an assault and battery incident at her home on Main Street in Harwich Center on Aug. 5.

In that incident, police arrested Fobert-Gately at her home for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Police reported the incident occurred after Fobert-Gately and her neighbor were engaged in a heated discussion. No serious injuries resulted, police said.

“We’ve found her in different areas of Harwich acting erratic in nature,” Gagnon said. Fobert-Gately was charged with breaking and entering at nighttime, larceny from a building and attempted kidnapping.