A child missing from Wheelersburg is officially listed on the Web site for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and her mother is in the Scioto County Jail on contempt charges.
Jaelyn Rice, a 4-year-old, described as having blonde hair and blue eyes, has been missing since July 16, but did not become listed as missing until last week when her father, Stephen A. Rice, of 4813 West Flamingo Road, Tampa, Fla., issued a missing persons report. Prior to the filing, the incident was being treated as a domestic dispute because the mother reportedly knows where the child is but refuses to give the whereabouts of the child to authorities.
The mother, Cherish N. Lewis, of 709 Herms Hill Road, Wheelersburg, is incarcerated in the Scioto County Jail, and according to Scioto County Sheriff Marty V. Donini, has been ordered to remain in jail until she reveals the whereabouts of the child.
Judge Frederick W. Crow III, was assigned to hear the case after a conflict in the original case, involving Judge David Spears in Scioto County Domestic Relations Court, resulted in that court contacting the Ohio Supreme Court for someone to come in and hear the case.
Donini said the Sheriff’s Office became involved last week.
“Last week around Wednesday or Thursday, we had an interference with custody report, which was actually given to us by the (Portsmouth) Police Department,” Donini said. “The PD had the child entered and they took the child out of NCIC (National Crime Information Center) as a missing person. Our people put it in the day we got the report which was probably a week ago or longer.”
Donini said, after a discussion, he determined it was not a missing person case because the biological mother knew the child’s whereabouts.
“We brought her (Lewis) out and questioned her and asked if the child is missing. And she basically said no, she knows exactly where the child is,” Donini said. “She’s just not going to tell the judge.”
Donini said his office was in communication with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, and with Scioto County Prosecutor Mark Kuhn, and the decision was made not to enter the child’s name in the registry.
Donini said, after a conversation with the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s LEADS (Law Enforcement Automated Data System) officials, he was told the child could not be entered into the system unless a missing person report is filed.
After Scioto County Sheriff’s Detective Jodi Conkel contacted the father in Florida, he filed the report, “because he’s the custodial parent, and he did not know where the child was at that point and time. LEADS said, based on that, we could re-enter the child. And that’s what we did, re-enter her, based on that,” Donini said. “Normally, a missing person, no one knows where they are. But in this case, someone does know, which is the mother, which is not the custodial parent.”
Donini said a tip lead them to a residence on Coriell Road, where they were permitted to search, but found no sign of the child.
Donini said this isn’t the first time Lewis has been jailed for contempt of court.
Lewis was reportedly booked on Aug. 1, 2007, and released on Aug. 22, 2007, and booked again on Sept. 22, 2006. That time she was released on Sept. 28, 2007.
Attorney J.B. Marshall, Jr., who had represented Lewis, told the Portsmouth Daily Times Monday he recently won a unanimous decision in an appeal in the case, in the Court of Appeals.
Marshall expects to make a copy of the briefs filed by his office and the ruling in the case on Tuesday for a possible follow-up story on the case.
Lewis’ current attorney, Holly Regoli of Lancaster, was not immediately reachable Monday.
FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232.
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