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Woman who helped runaway reprieved

The state won't press its case against the family friend who responded to a teen's desperate call for help. She was accused of obstructing a deputy.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published September 27, 2006

Pasco authorities still aren't happy with Robin Mene, the Pinellas mother of four slapped with a criminal charge for helping out a 14-year-old runaway.

But would a jury have felt the same way?

Authorities couldn't be sure six jurors would have convicted Mene on the misdemeanor charge - obstructing an officer without violence - she faced after answering the teen's call for help on that frantic April night.

So the state decided to drop the charge, said west Pasco's top prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis.

"It's a close case, quite candidly," Halkitis said. "But I think it would be difficult to get a conviction."

Mene, 41, of Clearwater, learned the news Tuesday when a Times reporter called her at home.

"I'm thankful and happy," she said.

Mene's daughter is close to Sheila Lahurd's daughter Mariah, who told the Times that Mene is "the closest person to me."

The teen was going through a rough time when she called Mene on April 22: She had run away from home, just ingested 150 ibuprofen pills and needed a ride.

Mene rushed from Clearwater to Trinity to pick up the teen, then rushed her back across the Pinellas side of the county line to the closest hospital she knew of: Mease Countryside Hospital.

Meanwhile Pasco sheriff's deputies scoured Lahurd's Trinity subdivision for the girl. When the teen called home, Mene and a Pasco sheriff's deputy got into it over the girl's cell phone.

Mene refused to identify herself or her location, fearing the teen would bolt from her minivan. She refused the deputy's order to bring the girl back home, saying they were just minutes from the hospital. But the deputy says Mene didn't mention that they were near a hospital.

Mariah was fine after having her stomach pumped. But in July, charges were filed against Mene. Halkitis said despite Mene's "good intentions" she should have been more cooperative as deputies grappled with the crisis that night.

"We're in a time (sensitive) zone when kids are taken away from their parents and drugs are involved," the prosecutor said. "The cops have to do everything they can do to make sure the child is okay."

Another factor in the state's decision is that the teen's mother, Lahurd, didn't want Mene prosecuted. Her daughter is doing better, by the way.

"She's doing really, really well," Lahurd said.

[Last modified September 27, 2006, 07:55:09]