PETALUMA (KRON) — A 15-year-old East Palo Alto girl who suffers from bipolar disorder has been located after gone missing with a Petaluma man she met online, according to police.
Hope Seagler and her grandmother went to the Petaluma Target Shopping Center in the East Washington Place shopping center at 401 Kenilworth Drive on Saturday to meet Andrew Joseph Newman, 19, her long-distance boyfriend of several months.
Her grandmother reported her missing around 5:45 p.m. that night when she didn’t show up to get picked up at a designated place and time.
The teens had begun a long-distance relationship after they met online, her grandmother said.
Police said it appears Seagler went willingly with Newman and there was no indication Newman intended to harm the girl. However, she did not have her bi-polar disorder medication, and her family was worried she could have a manic-depressive episode.
Officers checked Newman’s Petaluma address but he was not home.
Police learned that Newman disabled a GPS tracking ankle device he was required to wear – following a conviction in 2014 for misdemeanor domestic
violence offenses vs. a previous girlfriend, and false imprisonment, but there is no bail warrant for his arrest for violating his probation.
The girl had not been making any contact with her friends or family and was not answering her cell phone.
But she did change her identity to “Hope Newman” on her Facebook profile, police said.
Police believed the two teens were traveling in a green, 1998 4-door Volvo sedan with a California license plate 3WPD421.
On Friday the two were located at a house in Redwood City in response to a confidential tip.
Newman is in custody on his warrant and arrangements are being made to return Seagler to her home.Bay City News contributed to this report.