FORT PAYNE, Ala. — Yesterday (April 2, 2020) a 13-year-old juvenile female ran away from the Griffin Street area of Powell; stealing a car and taking a 3 year old neighbor with her.
Amber Alerts were issued and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office immediately began searching for the juveniles. The 13-year-old had previously ran away on two different occasions to the Scottsboro, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee areas.
After reported sightings in Chattanooga, DCSO investigators and Narcotics Agents traveled there and worked closely with the Chattanooga Police Department. At approximately 10 pm, the 3 year old child was located at the intersection of Dodson Avenue and Windsor Street in Chattanooga after the child had been left their alone by the 13-year-old.
In the early morning hours, the Chattanooga Police Department located the 13-year-old and the stolen vehicle. The juvenile was taken into custody.
Juvenile services in Tennessee and Alabama were made aware of the situation and are responding accordingly.
The juvenile has been transferred from Tennessee to a juvenile facility in Alabama. Due to the age of the female, we are not able to elaborate further.
DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden said: “Our guys did an outstanding job on this case and getting this child back to safety. The Chattanooga Police Department was also pivotal in resolving this case with neither of the juveniles injured. They had their whole shift for that area working on this case and helped our guys every step of the way.”
“We’re working with local juvenile authorities to ensure this situation does not happen again,” he said.
“God Bless!” Concluded Sheriff Welden.
