PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Punta Gorda lady was arrested after deputies mentioned she hid a lacking teenage boy who she was attempting to undertake.
On the evening of Feb. 10, deputies with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace responded to Crossroads Hope Academy, a foster care service in Punta Gorda, relating to the lacking boy.
Earlier that day, officers mentioned the teenager had been allowed to go to South County Park. Nonetheless, when employees tried to select him up, he was gone.
Based on authorities, the boy had been concerned in an unreported incident with 61-year-old volunteer, Sherry J. Novelli.
When Novelli was questioned she mentioned the final time she noticed the teenager was on the park, the place she had given him meals earlier than he left.
Based on the sheriff’s workplace, Novelli was within the means of attempting to undertake the teenager. She even bought the boy’s mobile phone and supplied service to it, gave him a laptop computer as a further type of communication, and opened a checking account in his title.
Whereas on the foster residence, she tried to take away him from their care so she might assist homeschool him, get him to work, and proceed her adoption course of. The sheriff’s workplace mentioned Novelli “grew to become upset” when the employees advised her she couldn’t take this motion, as she was not his authorized guardian. Workers requested the lady to go away and reduce off contact with the kids of their facility.
Novelli advised authorities she did not know the place the boy was, suggesting he could also be in Tampa, and requested detectives for the steps being taken to search out him. Based on detectives, Novelli missed a gathering with them and requested to reschedule, claiming she had a dentist appointment in Venice.
Later, the teenager’s telephone was pinged in Venice. Detectives discovered the boy in Novelli’s car within the parking zone of a dental observe.
When interviewed by detectives, the teenager admitted he deliberate to run away after employees advised him Novelli would not be capable to go to him on the foster care residence.
The boy additionally revealed Novelli had set him up in a apartment and would go to him, bringing alcohol, cigarettes, and a marijuana vape pen. He added that they’d drink alcohol collectively on the apartment. Throughout her visits, she would additionally use a code phrase to let him comprehend it was her.
The teenager claimed the 2 didn’t have a sexual relationship.
“Youth who’re enrolled at Crossroads Hope Academy have already had a tough go of issues. To additional complicate their lives shouldn’t be a ‘motherly’ factor to do, and it solely additional harms them,” Sheriff Invoice Prummell mentioned. “This lady made a sequence of poor decisions, and it’s clear that she shouldn’t be what’s finest for this younger man. I hope that her affect shouldn’t be long-lasting and that he finds the best particular person to assist him discover his method. “
Novelli was arrested on prices of interfering with baby custody and contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a kid. She was taken to the Charlotte County Jail, the place she has since bonded out.
