KANKAKEE, Ill. (AP) A statewide missing and endangered persons alert has been issued for a baby boy who authorities say was taken by his father from a hospital in northeastern Illinois.

Police say the Department of Children and Family Services took the infant to the hospital in Kankakee on Wednesday after bruises were found on his body.

After he was removed from the hospital, the agency obtained a juvenile warrant allowing it to take immediate custody of 1 year-old Artistic Fletcher and his two older brothers if they are found.

The (Kankakee) Daily Journal reports (http://bit.ly/Z51yoE ) that police have received tips that the father may have fled the state with the three children and the infant’s biological mother.

Kankakee police found no sign of the family at the father’s home Thursday.

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