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Criminal Justice

Missing woman found forgotten in holding area of closed courthouse

A missing persons report Wednesday was soon resolved by a search of a Michigan courthouse.

Tara Mathis had been in the Barry County building hours earlier for a hearing in a child-support case and sentenced to 24 days when she told a probate judge she had no money to pay the past-due amount of $246. Put in a court holding cell to await transport to the jail, she was forgotten after a shift change for court deputies, according to MLive.com and WOOD.

Some six hours later, investigating a missing persons report made earlier in the day, a sheriff’s deputy and a Hastings police officer searched the closed courthouse and found Mathis still in the holding cell.

She was then booked and posted bond at 10:50 p.m.

An investigation of how Mathis was forgotten is ongoing.

The Associated Press also has a story.

Related coverage:

MLive.com: “17-year-old left overnight in Hudsonville court holding cell”

See also:

ABA Journal: “Privatized probation becomes a spiral of added fees and jail time”