GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – A Plant City man is fighting to get custody of his two young sons, who were placed in state custody when Baker County deputies say their mother and her boyfriend were found shooting up drugs in a car Sunday while the boys and another child were in the backseat.
"I just want my boys back," said Carlos Barbosa. "Really, that's all I'm asking. I don't think it's too much to ask for anybody to want their kids back."
Anjanet Roy, the boy's mother, and Richard Nasworthy (Baker County booking photos, below) were arrested after deputies say the two were spotted by a Florida Game and Fish officer doing drugs in a car parked in a convenience store parking lot.
On Wednesday, Barbosa and Roy were at the Clay County Courthouse for a custody hearing, where a just ordered 4-year-old Jaydin and 3-year-old Quintin will remain with a relative for now.
Barbosa was granted supervised visits, so he said he'll travel back and forth from Plant City to see the boys while he pushes to get custody.
"We went to spend time with them and played with them for a little bitnd told him that everything should be alright and 'we're going to see you soon,'" Barbosa said.
Barbosa could not believe it when he was told what happened with his kids.
"My first initial, initial thought was, 'This isn't happening.' Like, it's a dream," Barbosa said. "You see it on the news and you see other families go through it. You never think this can happen to you."
Barbosa tells me he and the boys' mother first met on Facebook years ago. She then moved to Plant City, where their two sons were born. The family then moved to Jacksonville with her grandparents, but they split up.
Barbosa says he moved back to Plant City, where has a stable job as a fork lift operator and a big family to help care for the kids.
He said he'll do whatever it takes to get custody of the boys and plans to hire a lawyer to represent him. He said there'll be another custody hearing later this month.
"If we are allowed to, we will be more than happy to take all three kids to keep them together -- if they allow that,' Barbosa said. "If not, at least let me get my two boys. They belong with their family and their blood."
Barbosa added he in now way wants to bad mouth the mother of his children. He is certain she will get help and has faith she will turn her life around.