A Pine Township woman who took her 3-year-old son and fled rather than let the boy visit his paternal grandparents is facing arrest for violating a Mercer County court order.

Judge Michael J. Wherry granted a request from the grandparents' attorney to arrest Bertha "Ellie" Wright if she can be found.

"The mother in defiance took off and apparently hasn't been seen again. It sort of beggars the imagination," Wherry said during a hearing in his Mercer County courtroom Thursday.

Ms. Wright, formerly of 949 N. Broad St. Extension, took her son Caleb Wright and disappeared hours before a May 1 contempt hearing on Ms. Wright's failure to comply with a court order to allow the boy's paternal grandparents, Dan and Carol Balcer of Butler County, weekly visits with their grandson.

Ms. Wright accused Dan Balcer of sexually abusing his grandson last summer. A Butler County Children and Youth Services investigation recently came back as "unfounded" against Balcer.

An investigation last year by the same agency also came back unfounded.