Three boys who have been reported missing from a Monticello youth home since Sunday were reportedly seen in the Jefferson community Monday, according to a woman who identified herself as an aunt to one of the boys.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services' Division of Youth Services identified two of the children in a news release under a state law requiring the division to notify the public if a child in its custody who leaves without authorization is committed "for an offense that would be a felony if the offense were committed by an adult." The other, who is from Pine Bluff, was placed in the custody Youth Services for several misdemeanors, according to the aunt.
The division described Trevor White, 15, as white with brown hair. He weights 113 pounds and is 5 feet, 3 inches tall. White has been in state custody since March on several felony counts of property theft, among other nonviolent felonies.
Levi Varnell, 15, is described as white with blond hair. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds. Varnell went into state custody in August on four counts of felony property theft.
The Youth Services Division declined to identify the third boy, citing the same state law, which is Arkansas Code Annotated 9-28-215. Sarah Phillips of Pine Bluff identified that person as her 15-year-old nephew, adding that she had custody of him before he was placed in the Monticello home. The teen was placed in the home for several nonviolent misdemeanors, Phillips said.
Arrest information involving underage people is typically not made public unless they are being charged as adults or they leave state custody without authorization.
Phillips described her nephew as white, 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighing 140 pounds. His blond hair is cut short and his long eyelashes were described as "really noticeable."
Phillips said a man saw the three boys on Chandler Road in Jefferson on Monday, adding that the man didn't know they were missing from the youth center until after he saw them.
Going by the man's account, Phillips said the man asked the boys what they were doing, and they said they were waiting on a friend to pick them up.
The boys were last seen in a black car with a white car following them, according to Phillips, who then said she called the sheriff's office.
According to the Youth Services Division, the three teens disarmed an alarm to the upstairs door at Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services in Monticello and ran down the stairs about 10:15 p.m. Sunday. Monticello police were called and are said to be "actively looking" for the boys.
Phillips said the boys showed up at her mother's house about 1 a.m. Monday after stopping at the Love's at U.S. 65 and U.S. 425. A person, Phillips was told, paid the boys $6 for gas in $2 bills.
"They said they were going to get in trouble, transferred to Dermott and someone was going to beat them up," Phillips said her mother was told. The boys took off from the house toward Jefferson by the time Phillips' mother could wake her up to see what was happening, she said.
At the time they were at the house, Phillips said, her nephew was wearing a red T-shirt and denim shorts.
"I don't think my child would have left the area," Phillips said, defining the area between Little Rock and Monticello. "I don't see him getting further than that. If I were to say, he would have called by now."
A message left for a Vera Lloyd official seeking comment was not returned.