An Ohio woman has been sentenced to probation after a missing girl from Sheffield was later found in Ohio earlier this year.

Briana Cole, 33, of Toledo, Ohio, was sentenced by Judge Maureen Skerda in the Court of Common Pleas to a maximum of five years of probation after pleading guilty to a third-degree felony charge of concealment of the whereabouts of a child. A first-degree charge of kidnapping of a minor – interfering with public officials and a third-degree felony charge of interference with custody of children were not prosecuted. Cole was also sentenced to pay a $750 fine.

The incident began when the father of a 14-year-old girl called the State Police at Warren at 7:28 p.m. July 6 and said his daughter was missing, with the girl’s birth certificate and custody paperwork also missing.

“(The father) believed (the youth) was taken from the residence by Briana Cole, the biological mother of (the youth),” the affidavit states.

The father told police the motion sensors at his home activated around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, saying that was when be believed the girl was taken from his home. State troopers reviewed the Pennsylvania State Police license plate reader history, which showed Cole’s vehicle was read by a reader at 2:03 p.m. Sunday on Route 66 near its intersection with Blood Road – roughly 30 minutes south of the missing child’s home. The girl’s father provided a custody order from the Warren County Court of Common Pleas indicating he had been granted sole custody of the 14-year-old.

State troopers then provided information on Cole’s vehicle to the Jamestown Police Department, who said a vehicle with that registration had been seen driving south toward Warren at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Cole told state troopers she had dropped the child in Jamestown, N.Y., and was already back in Ohio when police contacted her. She also told police she didn’t know where the missing girl was at that time.

“A cell phone ‘ping’ was conducted and showed (the youth’s) location on July 6 in the state of Ohio,” the affidavit states.

On Monday, Jamestown police interviewed Cole’s 12-year-old daughter who lives in Jamestown. The girl said she had been texting with her mother around noon Sunday. The 12-year-old told police that Cole had said she was going to get her 14-year-old daughter and told the 12-year-old not to tell anyone and to delete the text conversation.

“(The 12-year-old) also spoke with Cole on the evening of July 6, at that time Cole offered to let (the 12-year-old) speak to (the 14-year-old) over telephone,” the affidavit states.

A person charged with concealment of the whereabouts of a child is alleged to have removed a child from the child’s known place of residence with the intent to conceal the child’s whereabouts from the child’s parent or guardian, unless concealment is authorized by court order or is a reasonable response to domestic violence or child abuse. The statute states removing includes taking a child from the child’s known place of residence, causing the child to be removed from the child’s known place of residence, preventing the child from returning or being returned to the child’s known place of residence and, when the child’s parent or guardian has a reasonable expectation that the person will return the child, failing to return the child to the child’s known place of residence. Charges can be filed if the act takes place in Pennsylvania or if the person accused of a crime or the parent or guardian with custody of the child lives in Pennsylvania.