A 42-year-old North Carolina man and his 20-year-old daughter have been arrested on incest charges after having a love child last year — and reportedly getting married.
Steven Pladl, 42, of Knightdale, and Katie Pladl, 20, were arrested Jan. 27, WNCN-TV reported, citing “warrants.” They have also been charged with adultery and contributing to delinquency. The maximum sentence for the incest charge is 10 years in prison.
The child, a boy, was born in September, the station reported.
Steven Pladl was released on a $1 million bond. Katie Pladl’s bond is also $1 million but as of last week she was still being held in a North Carolina jail. They appeared in court last week.
The charges were brought in Virginia, where authorities believe the relationship began.
The station reported that Pladl gave up Katie for adoption when she was an infant.
They reunited in 2016 when she tracked him down through social media.
At the time, according to the station, Pladl was living outside Richmond with his wife, Katie’s mother, and their two children, girls who would have been Katie’s sisters.
Katie moved into the home, the station reported.
Subsequently, Pladl and his wife legally separated in November 2016 and began living apart.
She told authorities that just before she moved out, he would sleep on the floor in Katie’s room, the station reported.
Online records show the wife filed for divorce in March 2017 and obtained a divorce decree three months later.
The ex-wife learned Katie was pregnant last May, the station reported.
Eight days later, child welfare workers in Virginia began conducting interviews, according to the station. They interviewed the two older children, who said they had been told their father fathered Katie’s baby.
The warrants show that Steven Pladl told his other children to call Katie their stepmom, the station reported.
Police in suburban Richmond issued arrest warrants for Steven Pladl and Katie last November.
The ex-wife told Richmond’s WTVR-TV that her former husband and Katie married in Maryland and then moved to North Carolina.
She believes her ex-husband brainwashed and manipulated Katie, the station reported.
“This is a pretty unique set of facts, I would say,” said the station’s legal analyst, Todd Stone.