Dallas Police Say Kidnapping Report Was False
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Dallas called off an Amber Alert after they determined the initial kidnapping report was false.
According to Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse with the Dallas Police Department, a friend of a woman with a young daughter left her boyfriend and a large amount of cash in a car while she ran into a Max Beauty Supplies store in the 7400 block of South Westmoreland Road at about 9:30 a.m. Friday morning.
Apparently the boyfriend took off with the cash and the car. The woman was initially identified by police as being the child's mother. "She wanted to get her vehicle back because there was a large sum of money in the vehicle and she felt if she called us [about a missing child] we would locate it quicker," said Janse.
After police were called, the woman told officers that the keys were left in the ignition, and an unknown suspect stole the car with her friend's daughter, who was in the backseat.
After a full-on DPD search, that included police helicopters, was initiated and an Amber Alert issued, police further questioned the woman who finally admitted the child was never in the vehicle.
Police later found the little girl safe at a house in South Dallas. The child was with her mother and father the entire time, police say. "My little girl was with me all night," said the child's father, Jason Crawford. "I don't know where she got the story that the baby was in the car." The family had no idea the string of events the woman had set in motion.
According to authorities, the only factual part of the woman's story was that her car was stolen from outside the store.
The woman's boyfriend, money and car, a 2006 silver Dodge Stratus, license plate BV9-F940, is still missing. She is in DPD custody and is expected to be charged with Filing a False Police Report causing a public communication (Amber Alert). The crime is a state jail felony.
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Matt Thomas reporting for 1080 KRLD
