JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A teen girl who sent her mother text messages claiming to have been abducted and held in a dark basement was in a New York hospital Thursday and police were checking into her story.
Police Chief Robert Troy said the 13-year-old girl, who had last been seen by her mother on Monday, approached a person on a Brooklyn street at 1 a.m. Thursday and said she had been raped by two men. The person called police and called the girl's mother, authorities said.
Police said the girl did not have serious health problems, that New York police were investigating the rape allegations and it was not clear whether the girl went to New York willingly.
"The majority of things she's done since she went out of the house has been voluntary," said Police Capt. Jack Wisely.
The Associated Press is not identifying the girl because she is an alleged victim of sexual assault.
The girl's mother had been receiving text messages from her daughter saying that someone followed her and that she woke up in a dark basement. One of the messages sent to her mother shortly after disappearing said: "Someone has me, she'll take my phone," police said.
On Thursday, Jersey City authorities said they were questioning three people — a 20-year-old and two 19-year-olds — that none had been charged, and they were not involved in the alleged rape.
Wisely said the girl had met at least one of the three people at a New Jersey mall on Monday when she skipped school. The two parted company Monday afternoon and police were trying to account for the girl' whereabouts over the following two days, Wisely said.
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