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A Washington D.C. mom called out Turner Elementary School for their negligence after her children, 5-year-old Harlem and 4-year-old Santana, were reportedly kidnapped by an unknown woman from the school’s campus.
Capria Phillips told D.C. News Now that she was filled with “anxiety” and fear when she learned about the abduction. A suspicious woman picked Santana and Harlem up from the Southwest D.C. school. The outraged mom believed staff failed to check the identification of the suspect properly.
“They did not do the 100% identification check, which they have platformed on the side of the school building,” Phillips said. “My children were basically given away that day. And then the situation was swept under the rug.”
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On March 7, the D.C. matriarch was at work when she received a call from Turner Elementary staff asking if she knew someone named Jessica. Phillips revealed that she did not and rushed to investigate what occurred. Upon her arrival, the staff informed her that her boys had been taken by the suspicious woman.
“I didn’t think I would ever see my boys. I thought that they would find them missing in a river,” the Washington, D.C. native said. Thankfully, young Harlem and Santana were found unharmed.
The suspect was the ex-girlfriend of Harlem and Santana’s father.
Police later discovered that the suspect believed to be responsible for the abduction was the children’s father’s ex-girlfriend. According to a court affidavit obtained by D.C. News Now, the woman used the fictitious name of Jessica Smart to pick the boys up from the elementary school.
“Jessica” claimed she was Harlem and Santana’s mom, but employees failed to confirm her identity. The court document also noted Jessica’s alleged plan was to use the boys as leverage to coerce their father, with whom she shares a son, to see him.
The woman has since been charged with two counts of kidnapping.
According to Phillips, Harlem and Santana have been traumatized since the incident. She has removed the boys from Turner Elementary School.
“Trust is broken. My heart is broken [that] someone was that careless,” she said. The mother of two also wants school officials to formally apologize for their negligence.
“If you love your students enough, you will love to know who you’re giving them back away to,” she added.
In a statement, Turner Elementary officials said they took the allegations “very seriously.”
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