White father furious after being accused of kidnapping his own biracial daughters after family trip to Walmart

PUBLISHED: 22:01 EST, 21 May 2013 | UPDATED: 07:50 EST, 22 May 2013

A dad visited by police was suspected of stealing his three mixed race children because he is white.

After a routine trip to a Woodbridge, Virginia WalMart, Joseph—a white man who says he does not want his last name revealed—took his three young daughters home.

Then a visitor came knocking at the door. It was a police officer with a shocking question.

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Shocked: Woodbridge, Virginia dad Joseph got a visit from a cop after someone suspected of stealing his children because he is white and they are biracial

Shocked: Woodbridge, Virginia dad Joseph got a visit from a cop after someone suspected of stealing his children because he is white and they are biracial

‘Did he just ask us if these were out kids,’ Joseph’s wife Keana, who is black, recalled wondering, in an interview with Fox 5 DC.

But she knew the answer. The officer from Prince William County Sheriff’s Department had been sent to determine if the three little girls, a 4-year-old and 2-year-old twins, were Joseph’s.

‘He asks us very sincerely, “Hey, I was sent here by Walmart security. I just need to make sure that the children that you have are your own,”’ Joseph said.

Someone at the department store had apparently seen Joseph with the girls and called police with a concerned that he’d kidnapped them.

Dumbfounded: 'Did he just ask us if these were our kids?' wife Keana recalls wondering after the cop was tipped off by a Walmart customer that Joseph may not be the father of his own four daughters

Dumbfounded: 'Did he just ask us if these were our kids?' wife Keana recalls wondering after the cop was tipped off by a Walmart customer that Joseph may not be the father of his own four daughters


The officer went so far as to question one of the kids after the couple of almost 10 years confirmed they were, in fact, their children.

‘I was dumbfounded,’ says Keana. ‘He took my ID and asked my 4-year-old to point out who her mother and father were.’

Though, the sheriff’s department officer said it was Wal-Mart’s security that raised the alarm, the store offered a different story.

When Keana called Wal-Mart demanding an explanation, she was transferred to the security department and told at customer had gone to security with concerns Joseph and the children ‘didn’t fit.’

Inappropriate? The police officer asked the couple's 4-year-old daughter to 'point out who her mother and father were'

Inappropriate? The police officer asked the couple's 4-year-old daughter to 'point out who her mother and father were'

Diplomacy: Keana called Walmart and was told a customer had alerted security that Joseph and his daughters 'didn't match up'

Diplomacy: Keana called Walmart and was told a customer had alerted security that Joseph and his 3 daughters 'didn't match up'

‘And I said, “What do you mean by they don't fit?”’ recalled Keana. ‘I was trying to get her to say it. And she says, “Well, they just don't match up.”’

As the Huffington Post points out, the state of Virginia leads the nation in interracial marriages. And the marriages themselves have increased exponentially.

A Pew study found that, in 2010, 15 percent of new marriages crossed racial or ethnic lines. Thirty years ago, the number was half that.

The couple, though deeply troubled by the events, says they aren’t surprised. They say they’ve received looks from strangers for years but neither have ever been suspected of stealing their own children.

Nevertheless, Joseph and Keana said they won’t ever shop at Walmart again.

Boycott: The incident occurred after a trip to this Virginia Walmart. The couple says they won't be shopping with the company again

Boycott: The incident occurred after a trip to this Virginia Walmart. The couple says they won't be shopping with the company again

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I'd rather accidentally offend people and have the chance of finding a missing child then wonder and then read about the children being found dead in the paper later. Security investigated, nothing happened. Understandably, these two are offended, but they need to understand that the customer who reported it was (hopefully) genuinely concerned for the kids safety.

Click to rate     Rating   14

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Another dumb employee at Wal mart thinking the worse.Common sense is your best bet.

Click to rate     Rating   21

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I am a white female and I too won't shop there anymore. It's 2013 y'all, not 1813!!!! - Coco, LA, 22/5/2013 1:40 Whats Walmart got to do with it. Either you didn't read the article, "A customer approached security", or maybe you just don't care for interracial marriages or couples shopping in Walmart. It could of happened anywhere, KFC, just be thankful someone was concerned enough to question. I can think of a few instances in the last 10 years where young girls have been freed from circumstances you yourself wouldn't want to be in after having been seen in a store with a suspected perp. But you as a" white female" with a name like coco will no longer shop in Walmart. How small your mind is.

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Stay away from Wal-Mart. Spend the extra 20¢ and go somewhere else.

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My husband is white and we have three boys who look nothing like me except they tan and maintain a darker tone in the summer. Most of the time, I am thought of as the nanny until daddy starts making out with the "nanny" when he gets tired of the stares. Annoying then, funny now.

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My children are bi-racial. Admittedly, they don't look like they belong to me. People use to ask me how old they were when I "got them." Perhaps the public needs to be educated to the reality that bi-racial is the new norm, and that we don't like being treated like freaks.

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You know what they say . . . if you see something, say something. Maybe an inconvenience for the family, but good on the police for having some follow through. If the police in Cleveland had some follow through those 3 girls could have been rescued 2 years ago.

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Unfortunately, too many precious children ARE being kidnapped, murdered and abused these days. My opinion is to be thankful someone cared enough to check on them. Too many people don't care enough. Kudos to the parents for raising beautiful daughters!

Click to rate     Rating   36

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We are living in a fascist police state, where our neighbors are expected to report us to authority if we don't quite fit in with what is considered normal.

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I understand and appreciate the need for people to be on the lookout for pedo's that should get a bullet to the head, but a lot of times, you can clearly tell if children are supposed to be with the person they are with. Perhaps if the person who reported to Walmart security would have noticed further, I'm sure at some point at least one child would have called him "Daddy" and avoided this whole thing. I take notice when ANY child is upset, or maybe crying, in a store (and no...not just biracial children, ANY CHILD). But you can clearly tell the difference after a few moments...it doesn't take much, just paying attention.

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