TURN HER OVER TO SOCIAL SERVICES MADDA

Published February 8, 2012 | By

MIRAMAR —
A 17-year-old girl who was the subject of a massive search after she disappeared a week ago has been found unharmed, police said Wednesday.

Under police questioning, Naketa Leiba confirmed that she ran away from home, police said. On general terms, she said she was having problems at home, police said. As one example, she recalled being reprimanded for a tattoo she got in December, police said.

She was found by police about 11 p.m. Tuesday roughly 3 miles west of her Miramar residence, hiding at a friend’s apartment near the 8400 block of Sherman Circle, according to police.

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“She was hiding under a bunk bed, clearly not wanting to be found,” said Tania Rues, Miramar police spokeswoman.

Naketa’s case got a mixed reaction from the public.

“I think she should be punished for it,” said Leslie Thomas, 43, whose Hollywood home was visited this week by volunteers circulating fliers. “Her mother was worried sick.”

Thomas’ 10-year-old daughter, Shanice, overheard her mother and told her: “You’d slap me blue for something like that!”

Kim Clark, 23, a mother of three, also lives in the area canvassed by volunteers. On Wednesday afternoon, Clark said she still doubted Naketa ran away. “I don’t think she would let her mommy and daddy go through that torture.”

According to police, no charges were pending against Naketa, who was found at the apartment with her friend, a pregnant 18-year-old woman, as well as her friend’s cousin.

Naketa and her friends said they were aware of the search after “they saw a flier,” Rues said.

But Naketa “claimed that she wasn’t watching the news, and that she was not completely aware of the extent of the search for her,” Rues said.

The nearly weeklong police investigation involved “hundreds and hundreds” of staff hours and dozens of employees at an estimated cost of tens of thousands of dollars, Rues said. The FBI also was involved.

“It’s unfortunate that so much time and money was dedicated in trying to locate someone who did not want to be found,” Rues said. “These resources could have been used to help true victims of crime.”

Asked whether police would be compensated, Rues replied: “Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen.”

Between last week and Tuesday, family, friends and supporters had centered their search efforts around Washington Park, near State Road 7 and Pembroke Road in Hollywood, the last area where Naketa Leiba’s cellphone was believed to have sent out a signal, according to her parents.

Naketa’s parents repeatedly expressed their belief that she wasn’t a runaway and likely was being held against her will. The teen was brought back to her parent’s home about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

In front of news cameras Wednesday morning, her father, Michael Leiba, said Naketa wasn’t acting the same, and said he was concerned about her health.

“We’re going to take her to the hospital and get a physical,” Michael Leiba told WSVN-Ch. 7. “We thank everyone for their support we’re glad that our daughter is back.”

The parents later were seen escorting someone who may have been Naketa into a van and driving away. A woman inside the family’s home, who identified herself as a family friend, declined to comment.

Naketa vanished the afternoon of Feb. 1 after getting off a school bus near the 6800 block of Southwest 34th Street in Miramar, police said.

Naketa called her mother, a substitute teacher in Broward County, for a ride home. But her mother, Sharon Leiba, said her school was on a security lockdown and she couldn’t leave. Naketa Leiba told her she would probably walk home, her mother said.

About an hour later at 4:25 p.m., she told her mother in a phone call that she was “on my way.”

Police said they tracked Naketa to the apartment Tuesday night after obtaining an address linked to a cellphone Naketa used after her disappearance.

She had used the cellphone the day after she disappeared to phone her mother and tell her that she left home, police said. Don’t go searching for me, the girl told her mother, according to police.

Her mother told police about her daughter’s call, Rues said.

Even though police believed she had ran away, her parents told police they felt she could have been coerced into making the call, authorities said. Police told Naketa’s parents not to discuss such investigative details publicly, Rues said.

“There was information that we couldn’t release at the time, because we feared it would jeopardize the investigation and cause her to go deeper into hiding,” Rues said. “A lot of runaways end up in the wrong hands.”

During their inquiry, police found several things that led them to suspect Naketa ran away: A domestic incident at the home last year, Naketa discussing her life through her Twitter account, and no one reporting any suspicious activity around the time she disappeared.

Also, certain details weren’t disclosed to police by the parents, Rues said. Broward court records show that the parents divorced in late January.

“There are a lot of things that we were unaware of that could have potentially changed the scope of the investigation,” Rues said.

The omissions aren’t likely result in charges against the parents, Rues said. Throughout the ordeal they and police had the same goal: “to bring her back safely,” Rues said.

Sean Kendrick, the co-owner of K&K Grocery, a store across the street from Washington Park, said he saw Naketa’s mother and volunteers circulating fliers near his store Tuesday.

Naketa “wasted everybody’s time,” Kendrick said. “What will happen when other people come up missing and everyone thinks they’re crying wolf?”

Rues replied: “We take every missing-juvenile case seriously.”

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