FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Melanie McNelis, her blond ponytail bobbing up and down, nodded to the judge she understood she was charged with harboring the only woman ever on the U.S. Marshals' most wanted list -- her mother.
The 18-year-old McNelis then asked U.S. Magistrate Patricia Kyle if she could get some orthodontic wax for the braces on her teeth, explaining that none was available at the prison where she was being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
McNelis and her brother, David McNelis, 20, appeared in court Monday with their mother -- Judy Haas McNelis, a pale, thin woman with tightly braided brown hair and a soft, low voice.
Georgia authorities said McNelis, 41, was the head of a $250 million-a-year drug ring. She has also been charged with first-degree murder in a drug-related killing of pilot Frank Maars in Palm Beach, Fla.
Her two children are charged with harboring the only woman ever included on the U.S. Marshals' list of 'most wanted' criminals.
McNelis was captured Saturday at a Fort Lauderdale motel, along with her son. Her teenage daughter was arrested an hour later at a fast food restaurant.
Kyle scheduled a March 6 hearing for McNelis to determine whether she should be taken back to Valdosta, Ga., where she escaped jail in July 1983 while awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.
A co-defendant in the murder case, John Parella, has already been convicted.
Kyle scheduled bond hearings Friday for David and Melanie McNelis, who could face up to five years in prison if convicted of helping their mother elude authorities.
At the government's request, Kyle sealed the complaint charging Melanie with harboring a federal fugitive. The U.S. attorney handling the case did not explain his request for secrecy.
The judge read the complaint to herself, then explained to Melanie: 'Basically this says that you knew that your mother was wanted in Georgia and you met her down here and harbored her, concealed her.'
McNelis and her two children had been on the run since the end of December, according to law enforcement officers. They were known to be living in Bradenton, Fla., where Mrs. McNelis worked as a waitress in a bar, in late December, and apparently have been living in the Fort Lauderdale motel since Feb. 1.
Mrs. McNelis also has a 4-year-old child, who lives with relatives in Valdosta.
