Alaskan woman charged after allegedly hiding juvenile from being taken into state custody in Monongalia County

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An Alaskan woman has been charged for allegedly hiding a juvenile from being taken into state custody in Monongalia County.

According to the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, Laura Jensen, 42, of Anchorage, Alaska was arrested on a kidnapping charge after the juvenile was found at a Grafton Road hotel.

According to a criminal complaint, the department was contacted by Child Protective Services about a missing juvenile in February, with the Department of Health and Human Services later granted an emergency order to take custody of the juvenile.

Deputies learned that the juvenile had been seen at a hotel on Lawless Road with Jensen but was told by her that the juvenile traveled back to Alaska. According to the complaint, deputies determined that was false after they were able to gain access to the juvenile’s TikTok account and learned that the child was actually at a hotel on Grafton Road.

Jensen has been charged with kidnapping and is being held in North Central Regional Jail on $50,000.