Utah Highway Patrol vehicles, Cedar City, Utah, July 2018 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — Two young children reported abducted in Riverside, California, were found safe in Southern Utah during a traffic stop on Interstate 15.

Utah Highway Patrol troopers performed the traffic stop on a vehicle at Exit 78 in Iron County just after 7 p.m., in which they found the children and the alleged abductor, 24-year-old Joshua Adle, Sgt. Ryan Bauer confirmed to Cedar City News.

According to the Riverside Police Department, Adle and his girlfriend were involved in a verbal and physical altercation Tuesday night at a residence on Grace Street in Riverside. Police describe Adle as a “live-in boyfriend” of the woman, who is the mother of the two girls, 18-month-old Darla Yonko and 8-month-old Emma Yonko.

That evening, police say she put the children to bed then temporary left the residence. She returned shortly before 11 p.m., and both the boyfriend and the children were gone.

“Officers arrived and began their investigation in which they determined the boyfriend took the children without the mother’s consent, along with the children’s legal identification documents and other items,” the Riverside Police Department said in an advisory. “He told the mother he was going to a local business with the children but was never located, and never returned home.”

Based on the officers’ investigation, police said they believed the boyfriend may have been attempting to travel to Michigan with the children.

The Police Department issued an advisory on social media early Wednesday morning asking the public to be on the lookout for Adle and the children.

Details about the circumstances of the traffic stop that led to Adle being detained in Iron County have yet to be released by police.

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