WEST JORDAN, Utah — An AMBER Alert issued for a 7-year-old girl taken by her grandfather's girlfriend was canceled shortly afterwards.
West Jordan police say the girl was taken by her grandfather's girlfriend, Bernice Quintana, at approximately 9 a.m. without his permission Monday. The grandfather is the girl's legal guardian and all three lived at the same West Jordan home.
Police said they did not receive a call about the missing girl until 10:30 a.m.
Minutes after the AMBER Alert was issued at 2 p.m., the girl was located by South Salt Lake police after Quintana, 56, went into a police station and turned herself in. The girl was unharmed and safely recovered.
The girl's grandfather told police that Quintana had been acting strangely over the past month, and that she took his granddaughter without permission Monday morning, prompting the alert.
"Based on the criteria that meets the AMBER Alert, which would be the child is in danger, we know the suspect's name and information, we have the vehicle information, we ultimately determined that an AMBER Alert needed to sent because we had no idea of where [the girl] was at the moment," said Ofc. Alondra Zavala of the West Jordan Police Department.
Police are currently investigating and interviewing Quintana about what occurred leading up to her taking the girl. Quintana has a history of drug abuse, which may have also contributed to police believing the girl was in danger.
Zavala said Quintana faces possible kidnapping charges following the incident.
