Missing mom, 13, and baby found

A 13-year-old mother from South Carolina, who was reported as a runaway in December, and her baby were returned home late last week after she was found in Shelbyville.

A 22-year-old man has been charged as a result of an investigation by the Shelbyville Police Department.

Esteban Lara Jacome of Fairfield Pike has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is being held under $10,000 bond and will appear in General Sessions Court on Jan. 19.

According to a report by Shelbyville Detective Carol Jean, she received a call from a "very concerned" Shelbyville resident about a 13-year Hispanic girl and her infant child.

The 13-year-old was looking for assistance with her one and a half-month old baby and had been staying with two individuals for two to three weeks. The girl didn't have diapers or other essentials for the infant, but had already received some items from a local agency.

However, the Shelbyville resident who had informed the police about the teen mother "became even more concerned" after she learned that an upset Hispanic male went to the location where the teen was staying and made her get all her possessions and leave.

Detectives Brian Crews and Charles Merlo then became involved in the investigation and spoke to two men at Davis Estates about a friend of Jacome's who might know about the teen mother's whereabouts.

One man said that when he learned the age of the teen, he told Jacome's friend, Andre Acunda, that "she had to go."

Detectives then spoke to Acunda through an interpreter, who first said that the teen and her baby had returned to South Carolina. But when Jean asked Acunda where the teen and baby had slept the night before, "he couldn't or wouldn't answer that question."

Jean wrote in her report that "it was apparent to everyone that Mr. Andre wasn't truthful," and the detectives stressed how important it was to find the teen and the baby to check on their welfare.

Police were then led to the Fairfield Pike residence of Jose Luis Gonzales and Yuridia Sanchez, where Acunda had taken the teen, the baby and Jacome the night before, asking to rent a room.

The teen mother, the infant and Jacome were found in a back room and all were taken to the Shelbyville Police Department.

The 13-year-old admitted being a runaway and Crews contacted the Greenwood (S.C.) Police Department where the teen's mother, Maria Martinez, had filed a runaway report.

Police in Greenwood told Crews they were "familiar with the juvenile from other incidents" and learned that the father of the infant was in jail.

The teen mother told Jean that she started seeing Jacome after the father of her baby was locked up, explaining that her mother in South Carolina worked with Jacome "and allowed him to live at their home."

The teen said she became "upset with her mother and left." She and Jacome arrived in Shelbyville on Dec. 14.

Jacome and the teen mother also told police that he was 18 and had no identification, but Jacome was found with three ID's, and "at least two appeared fraudulent."

The teen mother and her baby were then transferred to the custody of DCS. The two were released to Martinez on New Year's Eve and they returned to South Carolina. Jean's report also noted that DCS is to "make a referral with that state."

According to the Index Journal in Greenwood, when the girl was reported missing, Martinez said the 13-year-old had left a note saying she had run away to Mexico and was "with a man she wanted to be with."

The teen mother turned 13 in July of last year, which means that she became pregnant when she was 12.