James Robertson Missing Teen, Turned Away By Tampa Police!!

http://www.bringjameshome.com

Troubled teen tries to turn himself in, but is turned away..

Shawn has gone so far as to risk his own life by going into neighborhoods where drug dealers hang out, looking for his brother and handing out fliers.

The family says the 15-year-old was trying to turn himself in, and possibly get clean from a crack habit, when he showed up at the Juvenile Assessment Center just days ago, on April 17th around 5:00 in the morning.

He confessed to deputies there that he stole a truck owned by his brother's girlfriend. The family thinks it was a cry for help.

But deputies at the JAC did not take Robertson into custody. Per standard operating procedure, officers are prohibited from leaving the lock-down area while on duty.

So, they placed a 911 to Tampa Police, alerting them that they had a teenager in the lobby who claimed he stole a truck.

The 911 dispatcher looked up the record of the truck and did not find it stolen. So, they did not send anyone to take the teen into custody even though the teen confessed to stealing it.

After trying to turn himself in, Robertson gave up and took off. He hasn't been heard from since.

"This whole situation could have been avoided. He could have gotten the help he needed," James' brother said.

Tampa Police spokesperson Laura McElroy says the 911 dispatcher sent officers to the teenager's home, instead of the JAC. Since the car was not reported stolen at the time, there was no warrant for James' arrest.

"The 911 operator should have dispatched the officer to JAC to take this boy into custody and get this boy the help he deserves. We are aggressively looking for him, to bring him home," police spokesperson Laura McElroy said.

But this also begs the question: Why didn't deputies at the JAC amend standard operating procedure and arrest the teenager as he stood in their lobby?

We placed calls to the JAC and we were told, "No comment."

After pressing the matter, they told us they would have a public relations person call us. As of Monday night, no calls were received.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• teen
• missing
• james
• robertson
• tampa
• florida
• police
• stolen
• truck
• jac
• center
• bay
• news

[spacer005]

Thank you very much, We hope he comes home safe to us soon.

[IzabelaBienek]

has he com back?

[jrrtolken]

i hope you find him! plz come home james x

[aware4autism]

I hope you find him!