FOUND: Missing 12-Year-Old Girl Located On Staten Island
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Police say a missing 12-year-old girl has been found.
An Amber Alert was issued Thursday in the search for Malaya Johnson, but it was cancelled around noon on Friday. According to sources, Johnson was found on Staten Island by State Police and is now safe.
The NYPD says the girl made contact with her family to let them know she is safe but "not coming home."
The Washington County sheriff's office said the girl went missing Wednesday in Hudson Falls, near Lake George.
The next day, police intercepted a red, two-door Ford Mustang they believed she was riding in near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on Bay Street. Two people were taken into custody.
The Washington County sheriff's office said 19-year-old George Torres, of Staten Island, was charged with child endangerment in the case.
MISSING PERSON CASE UPDATE: The Washington County Sheriff's Office has one person in custody in reference to the missing...
Posted by Washington County Sheriff's Office (NY) on Friday, September 28, 2018
The Washington County sheriff's office said 19-year-old George Torres, of Staten Island, was charged with child endangerment in the case.
Police said Torres and Johnson originally met online, and she told him she was 18 years old. He later told police there was no sexual contact between them, and he left as soon as he realized her age.
"We know that she does have individuals that she's in contact with right in the New York City area. There was an individual that she had met up with. That person was taken into custody yesterday. But at this point, the 12-year-old has not been located," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea. "There has been no explicit, at this point, danger. But of course, we'd like to get her safely home as quickly as possible."
Johnson remains at large, but investigators do not believe she is in any danger.
Authorities add that no other arrests have been made in the case.