Mother made up story about son being kidnapped to speed up police search for stolen car: prosecutors

Jaylen Mojica | Chicago police

Sade Owens wanted her SUV back.

So she gave police an incentive to find it: She told them that her 7-month-old son, Jaylen Mojica, had been in the back seat when someone stole her vehicle Monday in Marquette Park.

“Some lady said that if you say there was a baby in the car, the police will find your car faster,” Owens allegedly later told police.

The infant was eventually found safe with a babysitter, Cook County prosecutors said.

Owens, 30 and homeless, was ordered held on $5,000 bail Wednesday, after Judge Mary Marubio said the Chicago police search for Jaylen — involving a helicopter, numerous officers and multiple K-9 units — had been a “complete drain of police resources.” Owens is charged with making a false report, a felony.

An assistant public defender stressed that no one was harmed in the incident, an argument Marubio rejected.

“This is an incredibly extensive search for this baby,” Marubio said. “While we can say no one was harmed, there is a harm to our community when police resources are misdirected and misdirected on such a grand scale.”

Owens told police that she had left her SUV running while she ran into a convenience store Monday in the 2700 block of West 71^st Street.

She claimed someone jumped in her car, with Jaylen still inside, and drove off, police said.

Investigators later tracked down Owens’ SUV, but Jaylen was not inside. Police continued to question Owens and at some point she became “evasive,” prosecutors said. She mentioned that her other two children were staying with a babysitter, but couldn’t remember the babysitter’s name or her address, prosecutors said.

Police eventually located the babysitter’s address, where they found all three of Owens’ children, including her 7-month old, prosecutors said.

Sade Owens