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.
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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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