The search continues for a 13-year-old girl who vanished from a Michigan group home last week.
Dearborn Heights police told WDIV that Tamaia Jones fled from Vista Maria on April 22. Police said Jones was being transferred from another facility but disappeared before being formally admitted to Vista Maria.
In a statement issued to WDIV, a Vista Maria spokesperson explained that the transfer vehicle was stopped on the property when Jones exited the vehicle and left.
“We immediately alerted and initiated the search for her. We have been working with law enforcement ever since to help ensure her safe return,” officials said.
Vista Maria is a treatment facility for at-risk girls. Notably, it is the same facility where a 16-year-old sex-trafficking victim ran away on March 14. The girl was reportedly found in a 62-year-old man’s Dearborn Heights apartment on April 23. Police said evidence in his apartment suggests a sexual assault occurred there.
The man claimed he found the teen in distress at a car wash where he worked. He said he let her use her cell phone, according to WDIV.
The 62-year-old has not been publicly identified. However, sources told WDIV that he is from Lebanon and is in the country on an expired work visa.
Not only did Dearborn Heights police say they received more than 300 calls from Vista Maria last year, but WDIV reported that several former residents have accused the facility of abuse. Further, there are two open investigations regarding sexual contact between an ex-male employee and two teen residents.
Ahmad Sharif, who runs a car dealership near Vista Maria, said he’s seen multiple escape attempts from the facility.
“Cops would just roll up in here, and they would go down there and track them down. A couple times they got tackled over here, they just don’t want to come back,” he told WJBK.
Jones was described as standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds, having black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts should call the Dearborn Heights Police Department at 313-277-6770.
[Feature Photo: Dearborn Heights police]
