Steel Valley School District officials released an 8-year-old student to a woman now charged with kidnapping after she pretended to be the child’s mother, Homestead police said.
Jamya Jones-Houston, 25, of Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood is charged with felony kidnapping and interference with the custody of children for the incident police say took place on March 20.
Police say Jones-Houston called Barrett Elementary in Homestead and impersonated the child’s mother, telling the school that Jones-Houston had permission to sign the child out of the building.
After showing identification to a school security guard, the district allowed Jones-Houston to take the child, according to a criminal complaint filed against her.
Jones-Houston then called the mother and told her she had taken her child from school, the complaint said.
The child’s mother told police she has a Protection From Abuse order against Jones-Houston, who she said was an ex-girlfriend, according to the complaint.
Police located an expired PFA order from September 2025 in a database, according to the complaint. The mother also presented police with a three-year PFA, but the complaint said it didn’t appear to have been served.
When police made contact with Jones-Houston over the phone, she admitted to having the child and said she was “waiting for someone to pick her up” in East Liberty, the complaint said.
Along with Pittsburgh police, Homestead officers located Jones-Houston and the child on Hays Street, according to the complaint. Jones-Houston told police she had agreed with the child’s mother to pick her up from school, but police confronted her about her impersonation of the child’s mother, the complaint said.
The child’s mother later told police she had not given Jones-Houston permission to take the child from school and that she had no legal custody of the child, the complaint said.
Jones-Houston, who police said had an active arrest warrant from the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, was taken into custody, and Steel Valley officials returned the child to her mother.
Steel Valley Superintendent Bryan M. Macuga said in a statement the student had been “improperly removed” from Barrett Elementary after Jones-Houston “misrepresented herself to district personnel as an approved family member.”
He said a prompt response by police and district officials had located the child “unharmed.”
But Andrew Chiappazzi, a communications specialist with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit who handles district media requests, declined to say whether Steel Valley had changed any of its student release protocols.
“The Steel Valley School District has also conducted its own investigation and comprehensive review of its security protocols and student release procedures. We will monitor and evaluate these protocols as we continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of all of our students,” Macuga’s statement said.
The district, according to Macuga’s statement, continues to have “constructive, positive communication with the family and with law enforcement.”
Homestead Police Chief Jeffrey Luptak told TribLive, however, he was unsure what policies the district had in place for student release and had not been in conversation with Steel Valley about potential procedure changes.