Quets pleads guilty to kidnapping twins

RALEIGH -- RALEIGH - Allison Quets, who attracted headlines with her fight to regain custody of her twins, left jail today after pleading guilty to two charges of international parental kidnapping.

Quets, of Orlando, Fla., appeared calm as she entered the guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Raleigh.

She left the courthouse about 12:40 p.m. after a judge granted her release under supervision pending sentencing Dec. 17. She plans to stay with a friend in Wilmington until then.

"I'm glad to be out. I'm going much better," Quets said. "The most important thing in the world is for me to see my children."

Meanwhile, 2-year-old Holly and Tyler, continue to live with their adoptive parents, Kevin and Denise Needham of Apex.

The Needhams did not attend the hearing, keeping the twins behind the wall of privacy they have erected since Quets headed to Canada with the children last December.

The couple expressed their pleasure with Quets' plea through a statement.

"We were pleased with the outcome of today's hearing and supported the proceedings," they said. "We are anxious to get this phase behind us."

The Needhams said they are barred from discussing the adoption because it is under seal in Florida.

"While at times it has been tempting to set the record straight, we certainly will do nothing that violates those statutes," they said.

Quets' release order allows her to travel throughout North Carolina and Florida.

Quets had been in jail since her arrest in December in Ottawa where she had fled with the twins.

The twins were living with their adoptive parents at the time Quets took them to Ottawa. Quets had visitation rights and was fighting in the Florida courts for custody of the children.

The courts have upheld the adoption by the Needhams.

Quets, a former Lockheed Martin engineer, gave birth to the twins at age 47 after getting pregnant through in-vitro fertilization. Her friends said she was extremely ill during her pregnancy and gave up the children under duress when they were five weeks old.

Her fight for the twins stirred sympathy in some quarters, and supporters set up an Internet site to solicit donations and publicize her case.

When she was in Canada, Quets stayed at a bed-and-breakfast for five days, and the inn's owners raised money to help defray her legal costs.