Woman Charged With False Reporting; Police Say She Claimed Car Was Stolen With Baby Inside When He Was With Sitter Whole Time
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman was charged with false reporting Tuesday after police said she claimed her 7-month-old son was taken by a thief who stole her car near Marquette Park – when he'd been safely with a babysitter the whole time.
Sade Owens, 30, of the Uptown neighborhood, was charged with one count of false reporting of an offense.
Police said Owens falsely told them her 7-month-old baby, Jaylen Mojica, was in her silver Honda CR-V when it was stolen in the 2700 block of West 71st Street early on Monday afternoon.
She told police she got out of her vehicle at 12:46 p.m. and walked into a convenience store on the block while leaving the car running, and then the thief got in and drove off north on California Avenue with the baby still in the car.
Police said the car was found more than nine miles away, in an empty lot in the 1400 block of South Keeler Avenue in Lawndale, after the mother first made her report. But the baby was not there.
Police spent the majority of the day looking for the baby, and late Monday afternoon, police issued an endangered missing child alert for Jaylen. Meanwhile, police dogs were sent to 61st Street and Fairfield Avenue, 10 blocks north of the original crime scene, looking for Jaylen. Police also searched in other city neighborhoods.
But police said the baby was found safe late Monday in the care of a babysitter and it was determined that he was never in the car.
Owens was arrested at 9:38 p.m. Monday at the Area One Police Headquarters, police said. She is due in bond court on Wednesday.
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