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Missing girl, 14, found with baby
By AMY HERDY, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- A 14-year-old Hillsborough girl missing more than two years from the custody of the Department of Children and Families has been found living in Tampa with her new baby, officials said. Alicia Yebra, who was 12 when she ran away from a foster home in Jan. 2000, was found May 20 living with an 18-year-old man in the Progress Village area, Hillsborough sheriff's Sgt. Jon Lay said. Lay said sheriff's deputies, accompanied by a DCF worker, found Alicia and a baby boy at the home. They were taken into protective custody without incident. An attorney for Alicia's grandmother said the family was grateful she was found and was eager to see her and her son. "She's relieved that she's safe," attorney Carlos Ramirez said of Irma Salinas, Alicia's grandmother. Alicia went to live with Salinas after Alicia's mother abandoned her and her brother. The children's father, Peter Yebra, was sentenced in 1998 to 14 years in prison for burglary. The mother's whereabouts are unknown. Records show that in January 2000, when she was 12, Alicia told a caseworker she had been abused by a relative. DCF officials removed all the children from the Salinas home -- there were five at the time -- and later returned all of them except Alicia, pending an investigation. That investigation is still open. Alicia, who was in sixth grade, was placed in a foster home on Jan. 11, 2000. On Jan. 15, she ran away. Ramirez said he would be contacting DCF to set up visitation for Alicia's relatives, who do not know where she is. He thinks a May 11 story in the St. Petersburg Times about Alicia's disappearance helped officials locate her. "I don't think it's a coincidence," Ramirez said. DCF spokeswoman Shawnna Donovan said the agency recently received a tip on the girl's whereabouts, and after confirming it, the agency called the Sheriff's Office. After Alicia was found on May 20, she was placed in DCF custody, Donovan said. The baby is being cared for by the child's father and paternal grandmother. The Times story compared Alicia's case to that of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson, a Miami girl missing for more than a year from DCF custody. Rilya's case has been a painful reminder for Alicia's family, as well as for the judge and the lawyers on her case, who said they feel DCF stopped searching for the girl shortly after she ran away. As in Rilya's case, Alicia's DCF caseworker said he thought the family knew where the girl was, a claim the family denies. Ramirez also complained in court documents that the DCF caseworker, Michael Duncan, did not tell his clients for more than a week that their granddaughter was missing when she first disappeared. Donovan said Thursday that the department never stopped looking for Alicia. "We had already been trying to locate her, and we obviously were able to do so," she said. -- Amy Herdy can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or herdy@sptimes.com.
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From the Times City Times - South Tampa North of Tampa Marlene Sokol Letters |
