Amber Alert for Galveston Infant a Hoax: Police

A statewide Amber Alert issued for a Galveston infant Friday morning was a hoax perpetrated by a woman who loaned out her car and wanted it returned, Galveston police say.

According to the Galveston Police Department, 27-year-old Mikeshia Taylor told police she was baby-sitting a 6-month-old child named Jerome who was taken, along with her car and phone, by two women who were spending the night at her apartment.

Police began searching for the missing boy and issued a statewide Amber Alert while reviewing surveillance video and reaching out to the boy's family.

During an interview with Taylor, police noticed inconsistencies with her story and evidence contradictory to her account.

Police said the two women identified by Taylor has having taken the child, Valisa Allen and Christina Barrientos, then called the police to say they were not in possession of any child and that Taylor had let them borrow her car.

Taylor then confessed to police that Jerome and his mother did not exist and that she fabricated the abduction to get her car back.

Taylor has been arrested and charged with filing a false report, a state jail felony due to the fact that several other agencies were involved in the search for the missing boy. Taylor is being held in the Galveston County Jail on $80,000 bond.

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