Police arrested an Elizabethton teen on Monday saying the man knew the whereabouts of a female runaway and didn’t inform police.
Officers of the Elizabethton Police Department arrested Ronald Kennard Napier, 18, of 1418 Broad Street, on Monday and charged him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to police reports, police encountered Napier on Sunday afternoon while investigating a report of a verbal argument at a set of apartments on Bluefield Avenue. One of the parties involved in the argument reported to officers they had found Facebook messages between Napier and a juvenile female runaway indicating that Napier and the juvenile had been together since she ran away from home.
“Napier admitted that he had been with (the female juvenile) knowing she had run away from home,”EPD Sgt. Shane Darling said, adding Napier told police the last time he saw the female juvenile she was in a wooded area going toward Lynn Valley.
On Sunday, officers once again responded to a report of a fight on Bluefield Avenue where a the female juvenile had run away from her parents again. When Darling arrived on the scene, he said he saw the female juvenile running away from him but she failed to stop when ordered to do so.
Officers later found the female juvenile inside an old barn and took her into custody. Darling said he asked the female juvenile about when she had made contact with Napier.
“She advised that she knew about my contact with him on Sunday, and that after that she saw him at the Covered Bridge Park,” Darling said. “She stated from there, her and Napier went to an abandoned apartment at 1025 Bluefield Avenue where they had been staying.”
Because Napier knew the female juvenile was a runaway and continued to be with her without informing authorities of her location, Darling said he charged Napier with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.