A Bradley County, Tenn., man has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor after picking up a 13-year-old girl from North Whitfield Middle School in the middle of the day Friday without authorization, Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said.
Bradley County sheriff’s deputies soon located James Miles Eady, 21, at 1140 Red Clay State Park Road, nine miles north of the school, with the girl and awoman, Bradley County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Bob Gault said.
Eady told police he was going to “hang out with the girl at the park before taking her home,” Gault said.
He said Eady lives on Red Clay State Park Road.
Whitfield County Schools spokesman Eric Beavers said the middle school was placed on lockdown after the girl went missing.
Beavers said Eady came to the front office to check the student out but was not on the list of people authorized to do so.
When school officials could not contact the student’s father, Eady left the building and tried but failed to enter the school through a secure door at the end of another corridor, Beavers said.
Eventually the girl ran out a side door of the building to leave with Eady, Chitwood said.
Beavers said the girl knew Eady but probably is not related to him.
No one was hurt in the incident. The woman with Eady at the time was not charged, Gault said.
He said Eady will be held in Whitfield County upon release from the Bradley County Jail.
Harrison Keely is a Web producer and live blogger for the Times Free Press. He joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a reporter in 2010, primarily covering Cleveland, Tenn. and Bradley County news. As a member of the newspaper’s Web team, he handles social media and oversees the paper’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Harrison previously served as managing editor of the Smoky Mountain Sentinel in western North Carolina and as a business reporter for ...
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