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WEST HAZLETON — State police at Hazleton arrested a man after he allegedly kidnapped an 18-month old girl and assaulted the toddler’s mother in New York Thursday.

Jeremy Flowers, 33, of Austell, Ga., was captured during a traffic stop on Interstate 81 near West Hazleton just before 4 a.m., state police said.

State police said they were advised to be on the lookout for a silver 2010 Nissan Altima operated by Flowers, wanted on multiple charges in New York.

Troopers Michael Kishbach and Richard Williams spotted the vehicle traveling south on the interstate and conducted a traffic stop taking Flowers into custody. The toddler was not injured and taken into protective custody by Luzerne County Children and Youth Services, state police said.

State police said the child has since been returned to her mother.

An amber alert was about to be released but the toddler was recovered before it was issued.

According to the Cortland Voice on-line newspaper in New York, the incident began at a Red Roof Inn in Utica, N.Y., where Flowers accused his 26-year-old girlfriend of cheating on him. Flowers forced the woman and her child into a vehicle with intentions of driving to Atlanta, Ga.

Flowers took the woman’s phone away after she called for help.

As Flowers took over driving the vehicle, the Cortland Voice reported he assaulted the woman and slammed her head against the passenger side window and dashboard.

Flowers stopped for gasoline in Cortland, N.Y., where he told the woman to buy cigarettes, the Cortland Voice reported.

The woman ran inside the service station, announced her boyfriend was assaulting her, and locked herself in a storage closet.

Police in New York traced the woman’s cell phone and relayed information to state police who were waiting for him on Interstate 81 where Flowers was captured.

Flowers is facing charges of kidnapping, grand larceny, illegal possession of a weapon, assault and endangering the welfare of a child in New York, according to online court records.

Flowers was arraigned on a fugitive from justice warrant and jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail. An extradition hearing is scheduled March 24 before county Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr.

State police arrest man after alleged child kidnapping in New York