Submitted by Fox First at Ten on January 15th
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Pennsylvania state police have issued an Amber Alert for a 5-year-old girl who was taken from her west Philadelphia school by a woman, prompting the mayor to quickly announce a $10,000 reward in the case.
Police said Nailla Robinson was taken Monday morning from the Bryant School. Lt. John Walker told the Philadelphia Daily News that the woman introduced herself as "Tiffany," but her signature in the school visitor log was illegible.
Police discovered that the girl was missing later that afternoon, when a caretaker from the child's after-school program came to pick her up.
Mayor Michael Nutter said that the reward was being offered for information leading to the location of the child, described as 40 inches tall, 35 pounds, with medium skin tone, brown eyes and black curly hair. Officials said the girl, who wears glasses, was wearing a light-blue shirt, navy-blue pants and black-and-pink sneakers.
Nailla's mother appeared on local media, tearfully pleading for her safe return.
School district spokesman Francisco Gallard told the newspaper that allowing the girl to leave school with an unknown adult was a "serious break in procedure." Gallard said the woman didn't wait at the school's front office as is district policy but went to a classroom and told a teacher that the child had been "checked out" of school.
"That is completely against our protocol," Gallard said. "An adult is not allowed to go to any classrooms to check children out. They're supposed to go to the administrative office, their ID is supposed to be checked, and they are supposed to be checked to see if they are the guardian of record or parent. If they are, then they call (the) classroom for the child to be brought down, because we don't want adults roaming the building."
Walker said surveillance video of Nailla leaving school with the woman showed that the girl didn't appear to believe she was in any danger. Police said Nailla was often picked up by different people from the after-school program.
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Information from: Philadelphia Daily News, http://www.philly.com
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