A Brookhaven man accused of kidnapping his four children lastmonth was captured Saturday in the Dominican Republic. The childrenare uninjured and expected to be released to their mother soon.

“Today about 2 p.m. Earl ‘Mutt’ Wallace was arrested by theDominican Republic National Police in Sosua, where he was residingwith his children,” said Federal Bureau of Investigation SpecialAgent-in-Charge Ed Worthington, who was handling the case.

Worthington said the FBI Jackson Office, working with state andlocal law enforcement agencies, “was able to determine that Wallacewas residing in the Dominican Republic.”

The Jackson office notified the FBI’s legal attache in theDominican Republic, who coordinated the arrest with the nationalpolice.

Wallace was arrested without incident and the children are inthe custody of the national police.

“The children will be returned to the United States and theirmother as soon as possible,” Worthington said. “Wallace is expectedto be returned to the United States in the next few days, where hewill receive a preliminary hearing.”

Wallace faces a state criminal charge of parental kidnapping anda federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on hisreturn.

“The FBI takes these parental kidnapping violations veryseriously and we do everything legally possible to have thechildren returned to their legal parent or guardian as quickly aspossible,” Worthington said.

Wallace has been hiding since he picked up his four children –Garrett, 12; Hunter, 11; Abbey, 7; and Kitty Claire, 3 — fromschool Friday, Feb. 22, for his scheduled weekend visit with them.He did not return them Sunday, Feb. 24, to his ex-wife, KristinWallace, who initiated the investigation when they were notreturned.

Mutt Wallace told family members he was planning a trip with thechildren to a friend’s home in north Mississippi, but he nevershowed there, Kristin Wallace said.

When contacted, the friend told her that he was unaware of theplans, she said.

Authorities said Mutt Wallace was seen in Brookhaven Feb. 22 andin Jackson Feb. 23 with the children, but that was the lastreported citing before his arrest Saturday.