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Fairfield School Board Candidate Admits Child Abductions

FAIRFIELD (CBS/AP) - A school board candidate in Fairfield has acknowledged she was once arrested for abducting four girls from a bus stop in 1998.

Our CBS affiliate in Sacramento reports that that 70-year-old Alvina Sheeley spent more than a year in a federal psychiatric hospital after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to four counts of abduction.

The former teacher is on the November ballot for a spot on the Fairfield-Suisun board.

Sheeley said she was under "mental duress" at the time of the abductions, when she tried to gain custody of a child whom she knew through family in her hometown of Alton, Ill.

After the girl's mother refused to give her custody, Sheeley took four different girls, ages 8 to 12.

Sheeley said she meant no harm.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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