Missing Teen Found in Adult Prison After Lying About Age

A missing Pittsburgh-area teenager was found in an adult jail after she lied to law enforcement about her age, a local prosecutor said Tuesday.

Pittsburgh police posted a missing person report for the 13-year-old on Aug. 6. At the time, police said the girl was last seen Aug. 2 on the city’s North Side.

The teen was later charged with retail theft for allegedly stealing from a Dollar General store in Beaver Falls with a 25-year-old woman on Aug. 17, Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible said Tuesday. Beaver Falls is a little less than an hour’s drive northwest of Pittsburgh.

After she was caught, the girl gave police a fake name, Mae Wilson, and a false birth date that made her appear to be 18, Bible said. The teen ultimately spent two weeks in an adult jail.

According to Bible, the girl repeatedly told police she was a minor and from the Pittsburgh area, but lied when she said she was homeless.

Beaver Falls police contacted Child and Youth Services in Beaver County and Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located. They tried to find information about the girl, but because she gave a false name, there was no record of her, Bible said.

The girl was returned to her parents after someone at the prison where she was being held noticed her on a missing persons report.

“It was either a prison employee or an inmate who saw a photo of this minor as missing and recognized her as someone being held at the Beaver County Jail,” Bible said. “The deputy warden immediately placed the minor in isolation to keep her alone. They contacted her parents, and they came and picked her up.”

The girl was taken from jail Tuesday morning and could be charged in juvenile court with shoplifting and resisting arrest, Bible said. She could also face a false identity charge.

The Bible says that the prison and police did nothing wrong, and incidents like this happen very often.

“The officers did everything they were supposed to do, and that happens quite often when they get a fake name or a fake date of birth from people who have warrants in different counties or states,” Bible said. “They just can’t let her go because they can’t figure out who she is. I mean, she committed a crime.”

The article uses information from the Associated Press.