Texas Amber Alert Monday Deemed A Hoax, Plano Man Arrested
SEAGOVILLE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - An Amber Alert on Monday, April 19, which ended in two teenaged girls found safe in Plano Monday evening, turned out to be a hoax, Seagoville Police said Tuesday.
Police said on Sunday, they received a report of two missing teenage girls from the Seagoville Trade Days flea market.
The girls came to the flea market with a friend of one's family.
Once at the flea market, they separated from the adult and were last accounted for in the early afternoon, police said.
Both girls were from East Texas and were schoolmates.
At closing, neither of the girls could be located and did not respond to call attempts to summon them to leave for home.
Around 11:30 that night, one of the girls placed an alarming phone call to her mother.
This call led the mother to believe that the girls were abducted from the flea market, were being held against their will and were in grave danger.
The phone call originated from a motel located in Dallas. The context of this phone call was soon relayed to the Seagoville Police Department, who contacted Dallas Police to go to the location.
However, upon their arrival the missing girls were not located.
That's when the Amber Alert was activated.
On Monday, Seagoville detectives obtained surveillance video of the girls in the area of this overnight originating phone call.
Video depicted both girls in the company of two young men on Sunday evening.
From video obtained, there was no expressed actions from the group that the girls were in any distress.
The video served to corroborate tips that the girls had planned a staged abduction early on from the flea market to be in the company of the young males.
Further investigation led to the identity of one of the men.
He was believed to be Jose Penaloza-Estrada, 20, of Plano.
On Monday, Penaloza-Estrada was located in Northeast Dallas alone.
From interviewing him, it was discovered that Penaloza-Estrada had rented a motel room earlier in the day in Plano.
Officers went to the motel and discovered the females alone in the motel room. They were both unharmed.
The investigation concluded that the alleged abduction of the girls was a pre-planned hoax.
Penaloza-Estrada was aware of the girls being a subject of an Amber Alert and their Missing Person status.
He was arrested and charged with Harboring Runaway Child.
Additional charges may follow
