Woman charged with abducting friend’s child

A 24-year-old Herndon woman was arrested after allegedly abducting her friend’s 5-year-old child while the mother was asleep early Thursday morning in Lake Ridge, Prince William County police said.

The child was returned a few hours later after an anonymous tipster told police the woman took the child to Washington, D.C., said Sgt. Dennis Mangan, police spokesman.

Washington, D.C., police arrested Aja Chevon Dempsey, 24, of 2557 Farm Crest Drive in Herndon around 4:30 a.m. and are holding her for extradition to Prince William County, where she will be charged with abduction.

Police said Dempsey was at her friend’s house in the 3100 block of Arrowhead Court around midnight when the girl’s mother fell asleep.

The mother woke around 2:20 a.m. and both Dempsey and her daughter were missing. She called police, who alerted other police jurisdictions to be on the look out. Police do not believe the child was in any danger.

Around 4:15 a.m., a caller told police that the woman and the child were near a gas station in Washington, D.C. District police found the woman and made the arrest. The girl was returned to her mother.

Mangan said police are currently investigating the situation to determine why Dempsey took the girl.