DALLAS (AP) _ A Dallas teenager deported to South America under a false name never expressed concern during jailhouse phone calls that she was misidentified as an illegal Colombian immigrant.
In a recent television interview, 15-year-old Jakadrien Turner said she tried repeatedly to convince Houston police she had lied when she initially identified herself to them as Tika Lanay Cortez. She had told police who arrested her for shoplifting she was a 21-year-old Colombian national.
In more than two dozen recorded telephone calls reviewed by The Associated Press, Turner said she expected deportation to Colombia and didn’t complain of having no ties to the country.
Instead, in several conversations with two men, she identified herself as Cortez and discussed renewing her green card and having her passport and Colombian ID sent to authorities.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)