It's been 24 hours since Joshua Hakken allegedly broke into his mother-and-law's house in Tampa, tied her up with zip ties, and left with his sons Cole and Chase--who are two and four years old--in his mother-in-law's car. Florida law enforcement authorities say the "anti-government" couple of Joshua and Sharyn Hakken are now on the run with Cole and Chase in tow. Law enforcement agencies in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana have all issued child abduction alerts, as well as disseminated pictures of the Hakken family.

Over the course of those 24 hours, we've learned a thing or two about the Hakkens from law enforcement and the media. The story taking shape is both tragic and infuriating, as it appears from an interview with officials in Louisiana that the couple's problems do indeed stem from Joshua Hakken's 2012 marijuana arrest.

Here's what we know at this point about the chain of events that led the Hakkens to "abduct" their own children:

Joshua Hakken, an engineer from Tampa, Florida, was arrested at an "anti-government rally" in a hotel in Slidell, Louisiana, on June 17, 2012; and charged with "Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a controlled dangerous substance in the presence of a minor."
According to Det. Daniel Seuzeneau, the Slidell police officer who arrested Joshua Hakken, ”He was under the influence of narcotics and also had narcotics inside his hotel room and he was speaking kind of out of his mind a little bit.”
Seuzeneau says that Department of Children and Family Services was called, the kids were taken, and Hakken was jailed for "maybe a week or so but not very long.”
The children were placed in temporary foster care in Louisiana.
Allegedly armed with a firearm, Joshua Hakken tried to "abduct" his children from the foster care facility, and then left when he could not get inside.
[b]According to multiple media outlets, a judge in Louisiana gave permanent custody of the Hakken children to Sharyn Hakken's mother in Tampa on Tuesday of this week.
On Wednesday, Joshua Hakken broke into his mother-in-law's house shortly after her husband had gone to work, restrained her with zip ties, and left with the kids. Several hours later, his mother-in-law broke free and called the police.
The Amber Alert issued by Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriffs Department says the Hakkens "are anti-government," have "attempted a previous abduction at gun point in Louisiana," and "are considered armed and dangerous."
Joshua Hakken is facing two counts of kidnapping, two counts of interference in child custody, two counts of child neglect, one count of false imprisonment, burglary with a battery, and grand theft auto. If he was armed when any of that happened, Florida's 10-20-Life law could come into play.

While I haven't been able to figure out anything about the "anti-government" rally Hakken was allegedly attending in Slidell, or what happened between June 2012 and Wednesday of this week, his and his wife's political beliefs are hardly the danger that law enforcement officials are making them out to be. From The Tampa Bay Times:

That same story includes several quotes from neighbors about how normal and pleasant the Hakkens are, save for a rather careless habit of smoking pot in their driveway.

In June of 2012, Joshua and Sharon Hakken were staying at a local hotel in Slidell. The Slidell Police Department was called in reference to a disturbance involving Mr. and Mrs. Hakken. When police arrived, both Mr. and Mrs. Hakken were acting in a bizarre manner that alarmed officers. They were talking about “completing their ultimate journey” and were traveling across the country to “take a journey to the Armageddon”. Let it be noted that both of their children were present in the hotel room at the time.

Based off their behavior, and the fact that narcotics and weapons were located inside of the hotel room, officers contacted the Office of Child Services (OCS). OCS determined that the children were in danger and needed to be taken into custody by the State of Louisiana and temporarily placed in a foster home. Mr. Hakken was placed under arrest for Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and the Use of a Controlled and Dangerous Substance in the Presence of Minors. Officers also took custody of several weapons for safe keeping.

Approximately two weeks later, Slidell Police were notified that Mr. Hakken had shown up to the foster family home (somewhere in Hammond, LA) with a firearm demanding the return of his children. The foster parents called 911, and Mr. Hakken fled without his children. We have heard nothing until yesterday. Slidell Police was contacted by the FBI and the authorities from Florida to inform us about the kidnapping. They requested any and all information that we had on the Hakken’s.

Hillsborough deputies say the father who abducted his two non-custodial children in Tampa was last seen taking his family into the Gulf of Mexico aboard a sailboat.

The information comes shortly after Joshua Hakken's pickup truck was discovered in a Madeira Beach parking garage. Investigators believe Hakken took 4-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase onto a 25-foot sailboat, hours after abducting them from their grandmother's home early on Wednesday morning.

The Sheriff's Office says it is not clear what direction the boat went after leaving the Johns Pass area, nor do they know if the boat was still on the water during Thursday's stormy weather.

The boat's description is as follows:

Deputies say Joshua Hakken took his kids just one day after he and his wife lost custody.

"He entered the residence, where he tied up the grandmother and then removed the children," said Corporal Kevin Bodie, a case detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

It happened in what neighbors describe as a quiet neighborhood just as parents were taking their children to school.

"My heart breaks, my heart beaks for everybody in the family, but particularly for those two little boys," said Carla Bolling, who saw all the activity around the grandmother's home on Shady Shores Drive in Tampa.

Hakken's wife Sharyn is also believed to be accompanying them. Investigators are not sure if she was part of the kidnapping plot or a victim.

"We do feel that they are in danger due to the nature, the means where they were taken," said Corporal Bodie.

A warrant is out for Joshua Hakken's arrest on two counts of kidnapping, two counts of child neglect, two counts of false imprisonment, one count of burglary with batter, and one count of grand theft auto.

The children were originally removed from Hakken's custody last year in Louisiana following multiple drug charges. While in foster care, Joshua Hakken allegedly showed up at the foster care facility waving a gun and began beating on the front door. He fled the scene without his children after he was unable to enter the secured facility.

Anyone with any information regarding the location of these children are asked to immediately dial 9-1-1 or call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 813-247-8200. Both parents are considered armed and dangerous.

Detectives have found a car belonging to Joshua Hakken, a Florida man who is believed to have kidnapped his two young boys from their maternal grandparents' Florida home after the grandmother was tied up Wednesday, CBS affiliate WTSP reports.

The 2006 GMC pickup truck was found abandoned in the John's Pass Parking Garage, authorities announced Thursday night, according to the station. John's Pass is a fishing village in Madeira Beach.

Detectives believe the 35-year-old Hakken was using the truck to transport his two sons, 4-year-old Cole Hakken and 2-year-old Chase Hakken, after he kidnapped them from their grandmother's home early Wednesday morning, the station reports.

Investigators had to wait for a search warrant before they were allowed inside the truck. When they obtained the warrant, Hillsborough forensics crews reportedly dusted for fingerprints and took photos at the scene.

The truck was then transported to Hillsborough County, where processing of evidence will continue.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Joshua Hakken lost custody of his sons last year after a drug possession arrest in Louisiana, and that authorities said he later tried to take them from a foster home at gunpoint. The newspaper said the children had been living with their grandparents since last year, and that the Hakkens were informed Tuesday by a Louisiana court that they'd been stripped of their parental rights.

An initial press release identified Joshua Hakken and the children's mother, 34-year-old Sharyn Patricia Hakken, as suspects in the abduction. The news release said "both suspects are anti-government and have attempted a previous abduction at gunpoint in Louisiana."

The investigation and search for the children is ongoing.

...Hauser also stated that when Joshua left her house Wednesday morning he stated, "phase one completed, ready for phase two."

Law enforcement has now taken their search for the missing family of four to the Gulf of Mexico. It is believed that the family set sail Wednesday and video captured all alive and onboard. Officers found the family's car parked in a garage near John's Pass in Madeira Beach Thursday night.

It is unclear if the Hakkens took their cell phones with them because when investigators tried to do an emergency trap and trace the phones were shut off.

Other items found at the Hakken home included something eerie, a funeral ad found in the family office.

A Florida couple suspected of kidnapping their two sons from the woman's parents are in Cuba, authorities said Monday.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office received information that the Hakken family had arrived on the island nation, according to a news release. Investigators say they're working with the FBI and the U.S. State Department to verify their reports.

It wasn't immediately clear what, if anything, authorities could do to retrieve the family from Cuba.

A State Department official said the department is aware of the case and is in contact with local authorities. The official said a high priority is the welfare of U.S. citizens overseas, especially children "who are our most vulnerable citizens."

"The Department works with parents and foreign governments to resolve these difficult cases," the official said....

The U.S. Interest Section is aware of this case and is in contact with local authorities to get more information. U.S. officials are providing all appropriate assistance to the family. Because of privacy reasons, we are unable to provide any additional information. One of the Department's highest priorities is the welfare of U.S. citizens overseas. This is particularly true for children, who are our most vulnerable citizens. The Department works with parents and foreign governments to resolve these difficult cases.

... A man on a boat at a Havana marina told CNN's Patrick Oppmann he is Josh Hakken, the U.S. man accused of kidnapping his sons and sailing them to Cuba.
He declined to answer questions, and Cuban security asked a CNN reporter to leave.

The man, who fit Hakken's description, was with a woman who fits the description of his wife. Both were aboard a blue sailboat named "Salty." The CNN reporter also saw one child on the boat.

Hakken, a Louisiana man who lost custody of his two young sons, is accused of abducting them, together with his wife, according to a Florida sheriff's department.

Originally posted by Breacher:
I think he made a smart play given the circumstances. The Cubans would make the play to protect them just to spite the US Government and have a bargaining chip at the UN when someone complains about their own civil rights violations.

...Foreign Ministry official Johana Tablada told The Associated Press in a written statement Tuesday that Cuba had informed U.S. authorities of the country's decision to turn over Joshua Michael Hakken, his wife Sharyn and their two young boys. She did not say when the handover would occur....

A Florida couple accused of kidnapping their two young sons and fleeing by boat to Cuba were handed over to the United States and their children were returned to the maternal grandparents who have official custody, authorities said Wednesday.

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Joshua Michael Hakken and his wife, Sharyn, were being held at the Hillsborough County Jail on a number of charges including kidnapping, child neglect and interference with custody, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said on its website.

U.S. authorities say Hakken kidnapped his sons, 4-year-old Cole and 2-year-old Chase, from his mother-in-law's house north of Tampa, Florida. The boys' grandparents were granted permanent custody of the boys last week.

"Our grandchildren are safe," the grandfather, Bob Hauser, told a news conference with the sheriff's office late Tuesday. "We had an opportunity to talk with them before they left Cuba."

Bob and his wife, Patricia Hauser, asked the news media to give them at least 24 hours alone with the boys, the sheriff's department said in a statement. They planned to make a public statement possibly by Thursday.

Cuba tipped the State Department off to the Hakkens' presence Sunday, and from that moment "diplomatic contact has been exchanged and a professional and constant communication has been maintained," Cuban Foreign Ministry official Johana Tablada said in a statement.

An AP reporter spotted the couple and the children beside their boat at the Hemingway Marina in Havana on Tuesday. A man who resembled photographs of Joshua Michael Hakken yelled out "Stop! Stay back!" as the reporter approached, but there was no outward sign of tension or distress between the family members.

The family showed no sign they knew a decision about their fate had been made. The four strolled by an outdoor restaurant as security officials kept reporters at a distance. The youngest child was seated in a stroller and the elder boy sat down on a curb....

If I have my kids taken by a minimum wage Child Protective Services agent and go retrieve them the whole power of the Federal Government will come down on me.
They fear the loss of power more than they do the loss of that child or the safety of that child.

... Because weapons were involved, the Hakkens could be facing multiple charges carrying lifelong sentences. Kidnapping for the purpose of committing a felony and burglary with battery are both felonies punishable by life in prison, Tampa lawyer Rick Terrana said.

"They are literally legal strangers to the children, therefore it is straight-up kidnapping," Marchese said. "They will have a very difficult time in the criminal arena. You'll never be able to tell a biological parent, 'You are no longer the parent.' They don't understand that." (...)

Politics has assumed an oddly prominent role in the criminal case of Joshua and Sharyn Hakken, the Tampa engineers accused of kidnapping their sons and fleeing more than 300 miles on a sailboat to Cuba.

At the case's outset, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said the couple were "antigovernment," a characterization echoed in news coverage. Some sympathizers have bristled at the focus on the Hakkens' ideology, saying the pair have been unfairly painted as extremists.

Interviews this week with the couple's defense attorneys and authorities in Louisiana — where the Hakkens had early run-ins with law enforcement last year — suggest elements of truth to both perspectives, and offer clues to the beliefs undergirding the Hakkens' actions.

While the pair hold deep-seated suspicions of government, according to their attorneys, early descriptions of some of their political activities by law enforcement officials now appear to have been inaccurate.

In particular, there is no available evidence the Hakkens attended an "antigovernment rally" last summer outside New Orleans, as was initially asserted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

"She'll tell you she's not antigovernment," said Tampa lawyer Bryant Camareno, who is representing Sharyn Hakken, 34. "She's anti-big government."

Authorities say the Hakkens, after learning in April their parental rights were terminated by a court in Louisiana, kidnapped their children from Sharyn Hakken's mother and set sail from Madeira Beach.

They were apprehended in Cuba and are now being held without bail at the Falkenburg Road Jail on charges including kidnapping, child abuse and false imprisonment.

The portrait of the defendants emerging from their attorneys is that of an educated couple who adhered to some tenets of old-line libertarianism — distrust of public schools and organized religion — as well as ideas of newer vintage that fall well outside the mainstream.

Those include the concern that vaccines can harm children — an idea popularized in one form by Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann during the 2012 presidential primaries— and the theory that some airplanes' exhaust trails contain substances spread for secret purposes by government officials, according to the Hakkens' attorneys.

Jorge Chalela, attorney for Joshua Hakken, 35, said the couple are "impressive, nice" people who "happen to be educated and are asking questions" about the U.S. government's activities.

Camareno said the Hakkens strongly desired to home-school their boys, ages 2 and 4. While they believe in a deity, Camareno said, they did not want their children brought up in a church....

Doctors have determined that Joshua Hakken, the Tampa engineer whose anti-government paranoia drove him to abduct his children and flee to Cuba, is insane, making it likely he will be treated in a mental hospital before standing trial.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Chet Tharpe said in a hearing Wednesday that he plans to determine within six weeks where to send Joshua Hakken, 36, for mental health treatment. Defendants who are incompetent to stand trial because of mental illness are ordinarily treated until they have recovered enough acuity to understand courtroom proceedings.

The fate of Hakken's wife and co-defendant is less clear. It appears the prosecution of Sharyn Hakken will continue, although the couple's trial date, previously set for next week, has been postponed. Her attorney has said she was an unwitting victim who got bullied into the kidnapping scheme by an abusive husband.

A hearing to further examine psychologists' reports on Sharyn Hakken's and decide on a treatment facility for Joshua Hakken is scheduled for March 4....