A 5-year-old Philadelphia girl who was taken from her school by a woman who said she was the child's mother was found at a playground many hours later early Tuesday morning just outside the city, The Associated Press reported.
The girl was found by a passer-by walking in Upper Darby around 4:40 a.m. The man said he found her crouched under a piece of playground equipment in a park wearing only a T-shirt.
"I've been stolen," she reportedly told the man, according to Philadelphia Police Capt. John Darby.
The girl was taken to a hospital, but did not appear to be hurt, Darby said. Officials are screening the girl to see if she may have been sexually assaulted.
"There were no overt signs of physical injuries to the child," Darby said at a news conference. "We have a fragile victim here."
The victim was abducted Monday morning from the William C. Bryant School in West Philadelphia and could be seen in a surveillance video being led out of the school by a woman wearing a black, full-length Muslim garment and a black veil over her face.
Police say the suspect went to the school, signed in with a hall monitor, went to the classroom and claimed she was the girl's mother. School administrators didn’t realize until 3 p.m. that the girl had been picked up by the wrong person.
The suspect signed the school log as "Tiffany," though police presume the name to be false.
Authorities think the girl may have been targeted, as her real mother wears a traditional chador and niqab. The suspect also knew the girl's name and knew which classroom to go to,
Philly.com reported.
Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the school district, said the district is investigating and reviewing its policies. The correct policy for signing students out is to go straight to the main office, not to the classroom.
Newsmax is not naming the girl because it generally doesn't identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
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