Jamestown police officers helped resolve the case of a missing child allegedly taken from Sheffield Township, Pa., to Ohio on Sunday.

License plate readers and a cell phone ping helped police locate a Sheffield girl who was taken from Sheffield to Ohio on Sunday. The State Police at Warren have charged Briana E. Cole, 32, with first-degree felony kidnapping of a minor – inflicting bodily injury; third-degree felony interference with custody of children and third-degree concealment of whereabouts of a child. Charges were filed Tuesday in Magisterial District Court Judge Raymond Zydonik’s court, with the online court docket information saying the incident took place Sunday. According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, the Warren County District Attorney’s office recommended charges in the case.

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, the father of a 14-year-old girl called the State Police at Warren at 7:28 p.m. Sunday and said his daughter was missing, with the girl’s birth certificate and custody paperwork also missing.

“(The father) believed (the youth) was taken from the residence by Briana Cole, the biological mother of (the youth),” the affidavit states.

The father told police the motion sensors at his home activated around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, saying that was when be believed the girl was taken from his home. State troopers reviewed the Pennsylvania State Police license plate reader history, which showed Cole’s vehicle was read by a reader at 2:03 p.m. Sunday on Route 66 near its intersection with Blood Road – roughly 30 minutes south of the missing child’s home. The girl’s father provided a custody order from the Warren County Court of Common Pleas indicating he had been granted sole custody of the 14-year-old.

State troopers then provided information on Cole’s vehicle to the Jamestown Police Department, who said a vehicle with that registration had been seen driving south toward Warren at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Troopers talked to Cole on the telephone Sunday, with Cole telling police she dropped her daughter in Jamestown and was already back in Ohio. She also told police she didn’t know where the missing girl was at that time.

“A cell phone ‘ping’ was conducted and showed (the youth’s) location on July 6 in the state of Ohio,” the affidavit states.

On Monday, Jamestown police interviewed Cole’s 12-year-old daughter who lives in Jamestown. The girl said she had been texting with her mother around noon Sunday. The 12-year-old told police that Cole had said she was going to get her 14-year-old daughter and told the 12-year-old not to tell anyone and to delete the text conversation.

“(The 12-year-old) also spoke with Cole on the evening of July 6, at that time Cole offered to let (the 12-year-old) speak to (the 14-year-old) over telephone,” the affidavit states.

In Pennsylvania, kidnapping a minor with the intent to inflict bodily injury is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. This applies when a minor is unlawfully removed or confined with the intention to cause physical harm. Interference with custody of children occurs when someone knowingly or recklessly takes a child under 18 from their lawful custodian without permission. This act can be a felony or misdemeanor, depending on the circumstances. Factors influencing the charge include whether the person is a parent or guardian, if there’s a custody order, and the level of harm or alarm caused.

A person charged with concealment of the whereabouts of a child is alleged to have removed a child from the child’s known place of residence with the intent to conceal the child’s whereabouts from the child’s parent or guardian, unless concealment is authorized by court order or is a reasonable response to domestic violence or child abuse. The statute states removing includes taking a child from the child’s known place of residence, causing the child to be removed from the child’s known place of residence, preventing the child from returning or being returned to the child’s known place of residence and, when the child’s parent or guardian has a reasonable expectation that the person will return the child, failing to return the child to the child’s known place of residence. Charges can be filed if the act takes place in Pennsylvania or if the person accused of a crime or the parent or guardian with custody of the child lives in Pennsylvania.