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Woman arrested after she failed to return 7-year-old Utah boy, sparking alert

A Provo woman who was reported missing with the 7-year-old boy she was babysitting has been arrested.

Police put out an alert on Monday for the 37-year-old woman and the boy, who were located unharmed that evening. The woman has since been booked into jail.

According to a probable cause statement, the boy’s mother said she allowed the suspect — who she described as “her friend” — to babysit the child from Friday to Sunday. The mother said the suspect agreed to meet and return the boy, but then failed to appear and “would not respond” when she attempted to call her.

Police wrote that officers worked “throughout the night and day” on Monday to locate the suspect and the boy, and learned at about 9 p.m. that night that they were at a house near 800 North and 2500 West in Provo. When officers arrived, they found the suspect in the house — which was “vacant and for sale” — with her two children and the missing boy. The suspect “had entered through an unlocked back door without permission” of the owners and “remained there unlawfully.”

Police wrote that the suspect “failed to make any effort to contact or return the missing child to his mother” even though “she had access to a vehicle.”

The woman was booked into the Utah County jail for investigation of unlawful detention of a minor and criminal trespass.