Deangelo Gaines, charged after Amber Alert issued for his son, set to stand trial

MILWAUKEE COUNTY -- 21-year-old Deangelo Gaines, facing charges after an Amber Alert was issued for his 22-month-old boy earlier this month was in court on Tuesday, December 29th for his preliminary hearing.

Deangelo Gaines, Kushay Kubera

During Gaines' preliminary hearing, a Wauwatosa detective involved in this case testified.

The judge determined there is enough evidence for Gaines to stand trial in this case.

A scheduling hearing was set for January 8th.

Gaines and 21-year-old Kushay Kubera are charged in this case.

Gaines faces felony charges of fleeing or eluding an officer and second-degree recklessly endangering safety. Kubera faces a misdemeanor charge of obstructing an officer.

Authorities say once the boy was found safe, they started to question the mother's story.

Gaines and Kubera are the father and mother of 22-month-old Deangelo Gaines -- a boy for whom an Amber Alert was issued on December 17th. Police say they determined the mother of the child intentionally misled police as they investigated this case — and provided a false account of what occurred.

According to the criminal complaint against the two, a citizen working on the US Highway 45 project called police around 6:15 a.m. on Thursday, December 17th to "report he witnessed a man beating a woman in the parking lot of the JCPenney warehouse" at Burleigh. When an officer arrived on the scene, he exited the squad and ordered the car's driver to "Stop! Show me your hands!" The complaint says the "driver ignored these commands and accelerated away."

JCPenney Furniture Outlet in Wauwatosa

The complaint indicates another marked squad showed up on the scene and activated its lights, but the driver of the car "ignored these signals and increased its speed." Officers lost sight of the vehicle as it got to 124th Street.

Kushay Kubera

Kubera remained at the JCPenney site and was questioned by police. The complaint says Kubera "told police an elaborate story about how the child was taken by a man she had only met recently and whose name she did not know." Kubera's story prompted an Amber Alert being issued. But that story later turned out to be false.

Around 10 a.m. that same day, the car that sped away from the JCPenney warehouse was located near 100th and Mill Road in Milwaukee. A Milwaukee detective "pulled next to the car and told the occupants to get out." When she exited her squad and approached the car on foot, "the car suddenly came accelerating towards her, squealing its tires. She had to jump out of the car's path to avoid being struck." The driver got away.

Several hours later, the complaint says "police came to believe the child was in a house near 49th and Center Streets in Milwaukee. Police located the missing child as well as Deangelo Gaines, the child's father."

Deangelo Gaines

When questioned by police, Gaines told investigators "he had driven Kubera to work at Penneys, and the two had argued in the car and then in the lot. Their child was with them, and he told Kubera he was not going to watch the child that day, and he gave the child to her." Kubera later convinced Gaines to come back and take the child.

Police determined Kubera's original story was bogus when a "detective told her that he believed she was lying to protect defendant Gaines, at which point she started crying and admitted that she had been lying all along."

The complaint indicates the vehicle Gaines was driving during this ordeal was reported stolen out of Fort Atkinson. Whether Gaines had any role in that theft, or whether he knew the vehicle was stolen is still being investigated.

Deangelo Gaines

$10,000 cash bond was set for Gaines in this case.

Kubera was released on a $250 recognizance bond after pleading not guilty to the misdemeanor obstruction charge.

Kubera will next be in court on January 8th for a scheduling hearing.

Gaines faces up to ten years in prison and $25,000 in fines if convicted. Kubera faces up to nine months in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Neither Gaines nor Kubera have a prior criminal history.