3 Pregnant Teens Attack Utah Group
Home Director With Frying Pan, Flee in Stolen Van
January 19, 2007
AMERICAN FORK, Utah — Three
pregnant teens living in a group home whacked the director in the
head with a frying pan, tied her up and fled in a minivan, police
said.
The girls, two 15-year-olds and a
16-year-old, are from California, Texas and Illinois. Police believe
they left the state after restraining the director with power cords
Tuesday and tying up another pregnant teen.
The director "was able to break
free and then she went up and untied the 17-year-old female and then
they contacted the police," American Fork police Sgt. Shauna
Greening said.
New Hope, a privately owned
maternity home in Utah County, is a place for struggling pregnant
teens, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Girls attend school in the area and
are taught prenatal care, child birth, adoption and parenting
skills. A call 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.
"We've had a lot of parents call
and thank us for giving their girls back," Moody told KTVX-TV.
Greening would not release the
teens' hometowns or the name of the director, whose purse,
checkbook, credit cards, cell phone, video camera and 2005 Dodge
Caravan were stolen.
"It's been there about three years,
and we've never had any problems," Greening said.
The director said "she never had
any indication that anything like this was going to happen. They
were all sitting around doing homework before the attack occurred,"
the sergeant said.
The teens were sent to the home by
their parents to get them away from problems with drugs or friends,
Greening said. Parents have been contacted about the incident.
Detectives were checking for any
use of the director's credit cards.
New Hope is among a handful of
maternity homes licensed by the Utah Division of Child and Family
Services, spokeswoman Carol Sisco said.
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