OAKLAND — Authorities were searching for a teenage girl who slipped out of her handcuffs and escaped police custody Wednesday after being arrested in Oakland for stealing a car and giving a false name, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The teen’s mother, who lives in Hayward and whose name was being withheld by this newspaper to protect the identity of her juvenile daughter, said CHP officers came to her house at 3 a.m. to verify her 16-year-old daughter’s identity. The girl’s mother said she believed her daughter was wanted by authorities for cutting off a GPS locator ankle bracelet, and that she did not want to harbor a fugitive, so she left her in CHP custody.

At 7 a.m., the mother said, CHP officials returned to let her know her daughter had escaped.

“I got a call at 3 and they said they had my daughter and to come outside to ID her because she gave a false name,” the woman said. “The next morning they said she escaped from the CHP station.”

The teen’s mother said she wondered how her daughter could have escaped from police custody.

While officers were completing paperwork to book her in juvenile hall, she somehow slipped out of her handcuffs and escaped, the CHP said in a statement. Officers from the CHP and the Oakland Police Department searched for the teen nearby but did not locate her. The girl’s mother said authorities told her they think she might have gotten onto a BART train.

Authorities are seeking an arrest warrant for the original charge of vehicle theft and charges for escaping from custody, according to the CHP.

She is not believed to pose a threat to the public.

Anyone with information about the girl’s whereabouts is asked to call the CHP’s Oakland office at 510-450-3821.

Staff writer David DeBolt contributed to this report. Contact Natalie Neysa Alund at 510-293-2469. Follow her at Twitter.com/nataliealund.