11-08-2011, 01:58 PM
she could be in hospital.
ELKINS, W.Va. (AP) - The mother of a 3-year-old Lewis County girl missing for more than six weeks has pleaded innocent to federal charges of welfare fraud.
Twenty-9-year-old Lena Lunsford waived her right to appear in U.S. District Court in Elkins on Tuesday. Her public defender entered the plea for her.
Lunsford's daughter Aliayah vanished from the family home near Bendale Sept. 24. Investigators are treating the disappearance as a crime but have made no arrests and named no suspects.
The mother was indicted last week on charges of swapping credits on her food stamp card for $50 cash five times in two months. She faces more than 10 years in prison if convicted.
U.S. Magistrate John Kaull has scheduled a Dec. 13 hearing on motions in the case.
ELKINS, W.Va. (AP) - The mother of a 3-year-old Lewis County girl missing for more than six weeks has pleaded innocent to federal charges of welfare fraud.
Twenty-9-year-old Lena Lunsford waived her right to appear in U.S. District Court in Elkins on Tuesday. Her public defender entered the plea for her.
Lunsford's daughter Aliayah vanished from the family home near Bendale Sept. 24. Investigators are treating the disappearance as a crime but have made no arrests and named no suspects.
The mother was indicted last week on charges of swapping credits on her food stamp card for $50 cash five times in two months. She faces more than 10 years in prison if convicted.
U.S. Magistrate John Kaull has scheduled a Dec. 13 hearing on motions in the case.