(CNN) -- The biological father of a Native American child was arrested Monday after defying a court order to return the girl to her adoptive parents, the latest development in a four-year case that has spanned state lines and tested an unusual federal law. Matt and Melanie Capobianco, a white couple from South Carolina, legally adopted Veronica at birth in September 2009. When Veronica's father, Cherokee Nation member Dusten Brown, learned of her adoption a few months later, he asserted his custody rights under the Indian Child Welfare Act, setting off a lengthy legal fight. A family court judge ruled in Brown's favor in late 2011, and he took his daughter back. The Capobiancos have fought ever since to have Veronica returned.
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Dusten Brown says the adoption of his daughter should not have been allowed
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A South Carolina couple had the girl for two years before he took her back
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The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which OK'd the adoption
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Brown never showed up to return his daughter to the couple
Melanie Capobianco
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Veronica
Veronica
Veronica
His attorneys say Brown did not understand the extent of the waiver and that the mother never indicated she intended unilaterally to give @placeholder up for adoption.