Missing Naco teenager found in Virginia; SV teen missing

By Gentry Braswell
WICK NEWS SERVICE
Published/Last Modified on Thursday, November 15, 2007 3:05 PM MST


SIERRA VISTA — One missing, one found.


A 16-year-old runaway girl from Naco, Ariz., is back with her parents after authorities found her in Virginia with a man wanted on an unrelated felony warrant.

Meanwhile, a second 16-year-old runaway, a boy from south Sierra Vista, was still missing Tuesday, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The Naco girl, Morgan Gill, had accompanied 34-year-old Jamison Scott Willett, a former bartender from Turquoise Valley Golf Course in Naco, Ariz., to Virginia.

On Thursday, Cochise County detectives tracked Willett to Bland County in western Virginia. That agency picked up the girl, who was wanted on a statutory runaway juvenile charge in Cochise County. The neighboring Wythe County Sheriff’s Department arrested Willett. He is being held in Virginia pending extradition to Cochise County.

Willett was served a felony probation violation warrant out of Cochise County Superior Court stemming from what were originally local felony fraud charges, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said.

Morgan’s father, Jim Gill, said he feels his daughter has learned a valuable lesson after events began unfolding Oct. 24, when the parents first discovered their daughter was missing. Since her return, they have had a positive dialogue, he noted.

Jim is critical about policies of MySpace.com because the Gills as parents, after Morgan went missing, say they were not able to get any information about their daughter’s online MySpace.com account without a subpoena.

“I think the best thing is to be involved with who your kids are talking to. Know their friends. And if you’re not computer savvy, get on there and start learning, because we’ve learned a lot in the last few days,” Morgan’s father said. “And check all the kids’ e-mails, because that’s how they were communicating, too.”

MySpace.com, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. But the teen-popular Web site contains what it calls ParentCare, which “… is committed to helping parents with inquiries they have regarding their teen’s profile …” ParentCare provides information designed to help parents, and it provides e-mail and phone contact points for parents to follow up.

The second runaway, 16-year-old Brian Pritchard of Sierra Vista’s south side, is also a user of MySpace.com.

He was last seen by his family Oct. 27, and he has reportedly been seen in the Sierra Vista area by friends, and new pictures of him have been posted on MySpace.com, according his aunt Peggy McBride. There was apparent activity on his page Tuesday.

“We know he’s in town,” McBride said. “He’s been seen by some of his friends running around. We don’t know who he’s staying with. Somebody’s keeping him, but we don’t know who.”

Pritchard is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds with blue eyes and light brown hair.

Comments

    Ricardo wrote on Nov 16, 2007 11:37 AM:

    " People have to stop bashing Myspace. If you dont want your children to be online with all the stuff they have on the internet dont even bother having internet. "

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