Authorities are investigating how a 13-year-old girl spent almost two weeks in the Dallas County Jail on a shoplifting charge, reports the Dallas Morning News. Jasmine Lewis was released on probation after 13 days, with authorities apparently still unaware of her true name and age. Police say she told them she was 17.
She was arrested with a 20-year-old on July 10 on shoplifting charges at a Target store. After initially telling police she was underage, the girl then gave a date of birth in 1991 that would have made her an adult. In fact, she was born in 1995. Police officials say the situation is unusual. More often, they encounter adult suspects who pretend to be juveniles in an attempt to avoid jail. “There are unanswered questions,” said Assistant Chief Ron Waldrop, who oversees the investigations bureau. “The thing that’s raised everybody’s concerns is that she did contend initially that she was” underage.