Allen Park police played a critical role in locating missing 14-year-old twins out of Detroit when they were actually sent there to investigate a credit card fraud complaint.
An Allen Park lieutenant declined speaking on the case, deferring comment to two other officers working on it. Both were unavailable for comment.
The twin girls were reported missing on March 8 by their father.
According to a report from WJBK-TV (Fox 2), a woman in Nebraska reported her daughter’s credit card stolen and it was used to pay for a room at the Comfort Inn & Suites, 3600 Enterprise Drive.
Allen Park officers came in contact with the girls and one officer is heard on his body camera, shared with the news station, saying, “I know who you guys are and I know who is looking for you. We’re going to have to solve that tonight.”
The report said the girls were at the hotel with at least two men, one being 30-year-old Marcus Peoples, from Highland Park, who has been charged with fraud, harboring juveniles, and using a stolen credit card.
He reportedly told police he got the credit card information from his brother and had no idea the card was stolen.
The relationship between the girls and Peoples is not yet known, but the juveniles reportedly said he was just giving them a place to stay.
According to earlier reports, the girls willingly left home last month, and this isn’t the first time they had done so.
They reportedly ran away while visiting a grandmother in River Rouge.
Judging from the body-camera recording, they did not appear happy about being located and didn’t seem eager to be returning home.
When an Allen Park officer asked one of the sisters why they left home, the response was, “Don’t worry about it, it’s none of your business.”
The officer simply told her that was fine and proceeded with the process of taking them from the hotel.
What the girls did appear to be interested in knowing from the report was if they didn’t want to go home, where could they go, mentioning foster care.
Another report on this incident said police are exploring the possibility of this case being linked to sex trafficking.
The Nebraska woman, according to the report, said she had no idea her complaint would have this kind of impact and was glad she made the call to police and reported the card’s fraudulent use to police and the hotel right away.
She noted in the report if she had waited just one day the girls might have been gone. They have since been returned to their home.
