Picture on Bus Responsible : Runaway, 17, Is Reunited With Kin

A North Hollywood teen-age runaway, whose picture was featured on RTD buses, has been returned to her family exactly one year after disappearing from a Sunset Boulevard motel the family owns, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Police said they found Karen Wang, 17, living in a West Hollywood hotel after receiving an anonymous tip from a man who recognized her from the bus pictures. The Southern California Rapid Transit District is one of 68 organizations and companies that display pictures of runaways as part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s missing children’s program.

Since the program started in January, the pictures of 16 missing children have been distributed and eight have been found, Deputy Dave Tellez said. A separate statewide program to display the photographs of missing children has been conducted during the same period.

Wang was living with her adult boyfriend and 3-month-old baby, police said.

Police Found Girl

Officer Oscar Carballo said police discovered the girl Wednesday and reunited her that night with her mother, Sheri, whom she had not seen or talked to since she left home.

Carballo said Karen Wang apparently ran away when she learned she was pregnant, and that she did not contact her family because she was afraid of their reaction.

Carballo, who was present at the reunion, said the mother “was in a state of shock when she saw her daughter and a baby. Let’s put it this way, she didn’t welcome her with open arms.”

But Sheri Wang said Friday that she wants to work things out with her daughter. “I’ve been looking for her for one year. We’re glad she came home,” she said.

Would Like Get Married

She said she has not yet talked with her daughter at length about the future, but that she hopes Karen will finish her education.

Carballo said the girl, who will turn 18 in three months, told police she would like to marry her boyfriend, who she said worked to support her and the baby the past year.

Family members have indicated they do not want any charges filed against the boyfriend, Carballo said.

The Wang family came to the United States from Taiwan when Karen was 6 years old, he said. Both parents work at the motel they own on Sunset Boulevard, he said.

An Atypical Case

Tellez said Karen Wang was not typical of the cases handled by the sheriff’s missing children program. Most children who leave home call their parents within a few weeks to let them know they are all right, he said.

Carballo, who has investigated many missing children cases, said runaways are often fearful of turning themselves in because they mistakenly think they may be sent to jail or to Juvenile Hall.

“Our main purpose is to reunite these children with their families,” he said. “We don’t take them to Juvenile Hall. We take them home.”