Parents risk jail for harboring runaways

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Although it's rare, it has been known to happen in Cibola County.

"It" is jailing and prosecuting parents for harboring runaway juveniles.

According to Acting Lt. Harry Hall of the Cibola County Sheriff's Office, custodial interference and unlawful interference are both 4th-degree felonies, which carry a maximum punishment upon conviction of 18 months in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.

The key to the determination is how long "protracted," in the word of state law the offending parent(s) allow children other than their own to stay, he indicated.

"What's so hard about calling the other parents?" he asked. That makes it easy for the host adults to determine if it is, indeed, OK with the kids' parents that their children are not at home.

"For a kid to run away (in New Mexico) is not a crime," he pointed out. But for parents, it's another story.

Noting that all police agencies have the same problem with which to deal, Hall said the deputies on Manuel Lujan's staff "would question the adults to find out how the child ended up there. If it's just for the weekend, I wouldn't worry. But for a week at a time or more somebody needs to call their parents."

Although the youth can leave home on their own, if the boy or girl is from New Mexico, the agency has to try to get them back home. If they are from out-of-state, the deputies can arrest the juveniles until their parents, law enforcement or a juvenile authority can reach New Mexico to pick them up and return them home, Hall said.

"All the parents of missing children need to do is notify the sheriff's office, city, village or tribal police and the agency (enters) the children in the NCIC (National Crime Information Center)," he explained.

However, "some kids are just hiding out at their friends house; so we encourage parents to call the other parents, just to check," Hall said.

If there is abuse, New Mexico cops can place youths in protective custody so they can be placed in a foster home by the Children Youth and Families Department and a judge.

Most of the runaway juvenile reports the local deputies receive, he said, are attracted by the bright lights of the big city and end up in Albuquerque, and the parents have to travel to Bernalillo County to pick up their kids; however, not making the journey, even to the farthest corners of the state, could result in authorities charging the parents with child abuse, Hall adds.

Instead of an adversarial approach, the lieutenant said, "We are merely trying to extend our help, within New Mexico law, but sometimes the parents are not happy."

In conclusion, he urges parents "to just call." It would save everyone a great deal of worry.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci, telephone 285-6184 in Grants or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).