3 Pregnant Teens Still On The Lam

This NOAA satellite image taken Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows shows clouds off the Carolina Coast associated with Subtropical Storm Beryl. The storm is expected to move slowly southwestward over the next few days, eventually making landfall as a tropical storm along the northeast coast of Florida. This region is currently in an exceptional drought, so the rain from Beryl may turn out to be partially a good thing. For more information, please see http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/. Clouds in the Plains are associated with a front that produced some severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in Kansas. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

Police continue to search for three pregnant teens accused of beating the director of a group home with a frying pan and then leaving in a stolen minivan.

The teens, including one from Illinois, were sent to the home by their parents to get them away from problems with drugs or friends, police Sgt. Shauna Greening said, reported CBS affiliate KUTV-TV.

The director, who was tied up with power cords Tuesday, eventually broke free and called police, Greening said. She also freed another pregnant teen tied up in the attack, she said.

Authorities believed the teens — two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old — left the state and a search was under way. Police said the teens also stole the director's purse, checkbook, credit cards, cell phone and video camera.

The vehicle's Utah license plate number is: 128VTX, police said.

The motive wasn't clear. Parents of the girls, who are from Illinois, California and Texas, were notified, police said.

The New Hope home for struggling pregnant teens is in Utah County, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. Pregnant teens are typically sent there by parents to get away from problems with drugs or boyfriends, and they attend class and learn about prenatal care, childbirth and adoption while staying at the home, according to police.

A call by The Associated Press to a phone number listed for New Hope went unanswered Thursday.

But 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.

Moody said he believed the girls were scared and confused when they attacked the director. "When they left, they told her, you are a good person, we just have to do this."

There is no excuse for what they did but they made a decision they really didn't think through I think," Moody said.

Greening would not release the teens' hometowns or the name of the director, but said the director "never had any indication that anything like this was going to happen. They were all sitting around doing homework before the attack occurred."

[setup_error]

I can't blame the teens for wanting to leave Utah. I live in Utah and I want to knock someone on the head and leave too!!! I don't think a group home for pregnant teens is the answer. Sending teens away from their problems only teaches them to run away. These teens were sent to a different state by their parents and the lesson they learned is that it is ok to run away from situations they don't like. The teens are just doing what they were taught.

[house015]

badmikey1, are you kidding me?? Every young girl in America who has ever watched TV, read a newspaper, walked inside of a public school, or so much as socialized with other children knows how to keep from getting pregnant. I agree that the abstinence-only option of teaching is ridiculously naive, however, to blame these pregnancies on the government is beyond my comprehension. I went to public schools while Reagan was president, had plenty of premarital relations and I never got pregnant before I chose to. Your target is way off!

[badmikey1]

If our government gets with reality and realizes abstinence only education is a waste of effort, as is the war on drugs, these young women may have been better informed and used birth control to prevent these pregnancies in the first place. when are people going to realize teens are human and humans are sexual beings. We need to look at Europes more openess with teen sexuality, they have less than 1/2 of our problems. Our puritan ways are putting this country in the crapper.

[sugarmice-2009]

why do you blame the house right away
it's pretty obvious that these girls are trouble from the get go.... they know how to say no yet they got pregnant ... bring more unwanted children into this world.. why not place blame on the parents - WHEN are parents going to take responsibility in the raising of their own children instead of dumping them on strangers and expect them to "cure" the problem. Parents from the beginning of birth are responsible for the proper raising of their children and if they don't have the time or means they shouldn't have kids. The parents probably thought they were doing the right thing but the girls are their parents responsibility and they need to owe up to it. Quit blaming people who were just trying to help where the parents failed.... seems to be the standard these days... pop em out and let em go and let society deal with it

[cathaleen]

You know the say "somthing's rotten in Denmark".
There may have been some nasty things going on in that house. From the outside it seems nice but you never know.