3 pregnant teens on the run
January 19, 2007
By Natalie Andrews
A caregiver is whacked on the head
with a frying pan, bound with electrical cords and her mouth stuffed
with a sock. A pregnant teenager is upstairs, also bound with
electrical cords with a sock in her mouth, and three pregnant
teenagers are on the run in a stolen van.
No, it's not a selection from this
year's Sundance Film Festival. It's what police say happened at an
American Fork group home for pregnant teenage girls -- New Hope
Maternity Home -- on Tuesday.
The three pregnant girls -- two are
15 years old, the third is 16 -- are still missing, and still in the
stolen vehicle, police say. They were from California, Illinois and
Texas.
American Fork police Sgt. Shauna
Greening said the attack was a total surprise to the caretaker.
"There wasn't any type of
confrontation prior or anything, the caretaker was surprised that
this happened," Greening said. "She didn't have any kind of
indication that it would resort to something like this."
Police said after assaulting and
tying up the caretaker, the girls went upstairs and used electrical
cords and tape to tie up a pregnant 17-year-old living in the home.
Greening was unaware if the girl's baby was injured in the assault.
After tying up the people in the
home, Greening said the girls took off with the caretaker's credit
cards, check book and cell phone -- in the caretaker's 2005 silver
Dodge Caravan.
Police believe they probably left
the state. Greening said an attempt-to-locate alert was issued to
police nationwide for the vehicle. The girls haven't contacted their
parents.
"It's still currently an
investigation," Greening said. "Detectives are following any leads
and checking credit cards."
Greening said the caretaker was
able to maneuver and loose the cords that were around her. After she
escaped, she untied the 17-year-old. Then they called police.
Greening said that they were shocked but uninjured.
Greening said she does not know if
the three girls have had problems with the law in the past.
Greening said the home, at 1082 N.
370 East in American Fork, has been a care facility for pregnant
teenagers for three years.
"We've never had any previous
problems," Greening said, noting that the home has been licensed
through the city and state.
Calls to New Hope were unanswered
Thursday. Its Web site describes the home as a spacious place on 30
acres for up to eight pregnant teenage girls to make "significant
modifications" to their lives away from friends. They take high
school and prenatal classes at the home.
According to The Associated Press,
the owner, Spencer Moody, tearfully told a Salt Lake City TV station
that he would close the rural home. He said about two dozen girls
had given birth after living at New Hope.
"We've had a lot of parents call
and thank us for giving their girls back," Moody told KTVX-TV.
New Hope is among a handful of
maternity homes licensed by the Utah Division of Child and Family
Services, spokeswoman Carol Sisco told the AP.
Natalie Andrews can be reached at
344-2548 or nandrews@heraldextra.com.
If anyone has seen the 2005 silver
Dodge Caravan, license plate 128 VTX, call American Fork police at
763-3020.
This story appeared in The Daily
Herald on page A1.
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