No charges expected to be filed after police cancel Amber Alert for baby

SALT LAKE CITY — Police have canceled an Amber Alert for an infant who was taken from a Clinton home earlier this week and no charges are expected to be filed, police said Friday night.

The child's mother insisted earlier that she and the baby are safe in California. Police have since been in contact with Taylor Webb and her lawyer and after determining the infant was safe, canceled the alert.

The alert was issued late Wednesday evening after police said Webb, 25, took her daughter, Audrey Westfall, from the Clinton home of the baby’s grandmother.

Criminal charges won’t be filed in the case by the Davis County Attorney’s Office, according to a Clinton City police news release, which also said the district attorney’s office in Stanislaus County, California, has “tentatively declined to file charges.”

Clinton police earlier Friday said the California courts have confirmed that Audrey's grandmother has guardianship. "We understand the guardianship order to still be in place in California," Clinton police wrote Friday night, so the infant will remain listed in the National Crime Information Center while additional proceedings take place.

Because Audrey isn’t with her listed guardian, she will remain in the system until the guardianship is resolved, Clinton Police Lt. Shawn Stoker said Friday night at a news conference.

While most investigative efforts have been passed onto California law enforcement, Stoker said this is still an active case for Clinton police.

“We still very much want a resolution in this matter for Audrey,” Stoker said.

Stoker had said earlier in the day that police didn't know where Audrey was and hadn't verified that she was safe, but they had spoken with Webb's attorneys.

Webb authored a letter Thursday issued through a Folsom, California, attorney in which she says she and her daughter are “safe and sound” in California.

Stoker added that police were aware of Webb's letter but said no "official entity," such as law enforcement or child protective services, had been able to check on Audrey.

Webb’s attorneys applauded law enforcement in a statement released after the cancellation of the Amber Alert and said they are “relieved by this favorable outcome for all.”

Her attorneys also called for the termination of the grandmother’s guardianship order. Webb refuted the legality of that guardianship in the letter, in which she says she has been dealing with family disputes, law enforcement issues and social media drama.

KSL has not been able to independently verify Webb’s claims in the letter. It was issued Thursday through the Folsom, California-based Weinberger Law Firm and was obtained by an NBC affiliate in Sacramento. KSL has verified that Joseph Weinberger, who released the letter, is an attorney registered with the State Bar of California.

Webb says she is “perfectly capable” of caring for Audrey and asked the California courts to dismiss her mother’s guardianship of Audrey, according to the letter.

Stoker said the grandmother's guardianship of Audrey is a "primary element" in the case. Police would have been derelict in their duty if they had not issued the alert, he added. Investigators looked into the elements of the case on Wednesday afternoon when they learned Audrey was missing and determined the alert was necessary.

Webb’s lawyers claimed Friday night that the temporary guardianship “was only issued by the court due to Taylor being medically incapacitated due to complications after childbirth, and no further need for guardianship exists. In fact, no further interference of any kind is required for this fully competent and capable mother to raise her own newborn baby, as any American parent has a right to do.”

Stoker was unable to comment on specifics of the agreement Friday, saying it is California’s jurisdiction. He did say that to his understanding from California law enforcement, there were possibly other factors involved in the guardianship beyond the medical issues.

Police had previously responded on Nov. 18 to the Clinton home on a domestic dispute between Webb and her mother, according to police.

The safety of Audrey “remains a concern” for some of her family members in Utah, Stoker said earlier Friday.

Clinton police are putting a considerable amount of trust in entities from out of state, Stoker said. Those entities operate on their own hours, so elements of the case may take a long period of time to resolve, he added.

Contributing: Alex Cabrero, KSL TV

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