A cyber security specialist suspected of attempting to kidnap at least nine young women in San Diego's North County pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

Spicer Van Allen Conant, 46, faces 16 felony charges including several counts of kidnap, attempted kidnap, contact with a minor with attempt to kidnap, as well  as possession of an unlawful assault rifle.

The prosecuting attorney, Garrett Wong told NBC 7 the contact with these women and young girls began back in May of last year. 

Wong argued in court Thursday, "Mister Conant, was clearly targeting young juveniles while they were at the school." 

But defense attorney Michael Earl argued the alleged kidnappings will be tough to prove in court.

"Kidnapping requires that you take someone against their will with force and fear," stated Earl. "And then after you take them with force and fear, they go a substantial distance. That didn't occur in any of these cases."

Police say he's contacted nine females--seven of them were minors. In each incident, he would ask for directions and then offer the women and girls money to get into his car.

Only two out of the nine females got into his car.

On Monday night, Escondido resident Totis Rodriguez, 27, was walking on Broadway near a Del Taco when Spicer Van Allen Conant, 46, approached her. He was parked in the lot near the eatery and Rodriguez said he blocked her in with his red convertible.

“I walked away from him and he said, ‘Do you need a ride?’ I said, ‘No, thank you,’” Rodriguez recalled. “He said, ‘Hop in, I’ll take you.’”

The stranger’s persistence didn’t sit well with Rodriguez.

“[I said], ‘No, no, no, no, thank you,’ and I panicked,” she added. “I was frightened, I was. I was frightened.”

Rodriguez said Conant “seemed like a normal guy” at first, but things turned.

“At the beginning, I thought it was okay. He was very vulnerable, nice – needs help. But, then his tone of voice changed and he wouldn’t let me walk through where I needed to walk through,” she said.

Thinking fast, Rodriguez grabbed her phone from her back pocket and snapped two photos of Conant. She memorized his license plate.

Rodriguez said a friend had warned her about this man in the area earlier on. That same friend encouraged her to call police to report her strange encounter with him.

She did just that.

One day later, Conant was arrested in Escondido.

After identifying him as a suspect in the attempted kidnapping of Rodriguez and other young women in the area, investigators placed Conant under surveillance.

He asked her for directions, then asked where she was headed.

On Tuesday, officers followed Conant as he drove to Escondido. Conant approached a group of five young women, most of them minors. Again, he asked for directions.

One woman, an 18-year-old, got into his car. At that point, fearing for the young woman’s safety, police officers pulled Conant over on 13th Avenue and Escondido Boulevard and arrested him on suspicion of attempted kidnapping.

While searching Conant’s red car, police found an illegal assault-style rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition in the trunk.

Another victim, Escondido mom Kirstin Rangel, told NBC 7 Conant approached her on Mission Avenue last spring to ask her for directions. She also described feeling “scared” during her encounter with him.

The EPD said Conant also allegedly approached a 15-year-old girl on Fig Street and Washington Avenue on May 9, 2016. She got away. Later that same day, he tried to offer a 16-year-old girl $10 for directions to the freeway. That girl got into his car but after driving with Conant for a few blocks, she got nervous and began texting someone. Conant dropped her off and drove away.

On March 15, Conant allegedly approached an 11-year-old girl as she walked to Mission Middle School, again asking for directions. She ignored him and walked away.

The EPD said investigators have reached out to other law enforcement agencies across San Diego County to determine if Conant targeted any other young victims in this manner. 

The investigation is ongoing.

He is facing up to 21 years in prison on convicted on all charges.

His bail is set at $2 million.

Editor's Note: The article has been updated to reflect that the boys have been found.

The two boys that were in the backseat of a car while it was stolen were found safe inside the abandoned vehicle early Friday in Desert Hot Springs, police said.

Jayden and Carlos Cortez were found by Riverside County Sheriff's deputies inside the abandoned white Honda Accord, with its engine still on, at around 2:40 a.m. parked at a church in the 17400 block of Bubbling Springs Road, Cathedral City police said.

Jayden, 1, and Carlos, 2, was taken to a hospital for evaluation and have since been reunited with their family, authorities said. 

The person who stole the vehicle has not been located.

The California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert Thursday night after a thief took the car with the two toddlers in the backseat.

An unknown suspect stole the white 2016 Honda Accord at around 6:45 p.m. in the 31500 Block of Whispering Palms Drive. They were last seen heading to Ramon Road, according to NBC affiliate KMIR. The car has tinted windows. The license plate is 7TJR654.

The boys were in their babysitters' car when she stepped out for an errand and someone stole it.

There were no immediate details about the person who took the car.

Anyone with information regarding this crime can contact Det. Alirio Moulin at 760-770-0381 or Sgt. Alberto Ruiz at 760-770-0320.

After a two-month investigation, police said the hit and run driver responsible for the death of a Paradise Hill mechanic is now in custody.

Jose Padron, 49, was killed in front of his house, while getting an umbrella from his car to give to his wife.

The suspect, 47-year-old James Robbins was already in custody on a parole violation when San Diego Police determined his connection to the hit and run.

Police said Robbins was behind the wheel of the silver car when he hit Padron, who was carried some 40 feet down Albemarle Street.

A video, recorded on a neighbor Butch Leonberger's surveillance camera, lead investigators first to the suspect car, then to the driver. 

"It's a decision that person made that he is going to have to live with it,” Leonberger said.

He told NBC 7, he installed the security system three years ago to protect his own family.

"If it could help any of our neighbors or the person down the street help solve something like this, I am all for it,” Leonberger said.

Close family friend Lauren Marcial said a conviction could help the family find closure.

“Without that video, he probably would have gotten away,” Marcial said.

The actual hit and run isn't on the video but it does show what happened seconds later. The driver stops for 10 seconds, signals to get back in traffic, and then drives away.

Marcial said it reveals Robbins' state of mind.

"He was conscious enough to where he pulled over and stopped to think about what just happened,” Marcial said.

Police said Robbins is now charged with felony hit and run charges and is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges Monday.

What if you could do your taxes for free, and fast? You could, but TurboTax makers Intuit and H&R Block have spent big bucks lobbying to make sure that never happens, NBC News reports.

For years, tax prep companies have pushed back against "return-free filing" legislation that would have allowed the IRS to greatly simplify taxes for over 60 million people by offering pre-populated returns.

The industry would rather people keep using Free File, which was used by 2.6 million people last year.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's "Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2016" was endorsed by law professors and economists. It never made it out of committee.

An Intuit spokeswoman said a proposed government program "minimizes the taxpayers' engagement in the process of their own compliance." H&R Block said taxpayers could miss out on valuable tax savings.

Russia may be influencing and supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan, the top U.S. general in Europe told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, NBC News reported.

Russia has largely been absent in Afghanistan since the Soviet Union's disastrous war there in the 1980s, but its role seems to be growing today, said Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who also serves as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, according to Reuters.

"I've seen the influence of Russia of late — increased influence in terms of association and perhaps even supply to the Taliban," Scaparrotti said.

His testimony comes in the wake of the Taliban's reported capture of the hotly contested town of Sangin in Afghanistan on Thursday.

When private equity billionaire Wilbur Ross Jr. signed on to be President Donald Trump's commerce secretary, he agreed to divest millions of dollars in assets, NBC News reported.

But one asset Ross plans to keep is his stake in Diamond S Shipping Group Inc., one of the world's largest owners and operators of medium-range tanker vessels.

In a new administration full of successful businessmen dealing with a complex web of conflict-of-interest concerns, Ross' part ownership of Diamond S Shipping stands out.

A Center for Public Integrity examination of Diamond S Shipping's operations found its vessels sail under Chinese flags, even as Ross is being tapped to take an unusually muscular role shaping U.S. trade policy under President Trump's "America First" mantra. 

Ross has said he doesn't believe the shipping investment presents a conflict, NBC News reported.

The annual Del Mar festival dropped its 2017 lineup on Thursday, and it features some huge names.

Headlining this year's three-day bash will be the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Muse.

Also along for the ride are Weezer, Jane's Addiction, David Guetta, Ice Cube, Jason Derulo, Alanis Morissette, Jackson Brown, Andy Grammer, Garbage and dozens of other artists new and old, spanning all genres from rap to EDM to classic rock.

This is the third iteration of the festival, which kicked off in 2015 and has featured iconic music acts like Aerosmith, Snoop Dogg and the Killers the last few years.

This year's festival will take place from Sept. 15-17 and takes place again on the grounds of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and fairgrounds. It's expected to draw over 100,000 people over the weekend.

Early birds were able to get cheaper tickets, but on Thursday, prices swelled to $259 (plus fees) for a three-day pass, with VIP packages available for steeper prices, of course.

Some acts with local ties made it on the bill again this year, including the SD-based reggae rockers of Pepper, as well as the San Diego Music Award-winning dirty-blues duo Little Hurricane and Trouble in the Wind, who won an SDMA themselves on Tuesday and will headline our FREE SoundDiego LIVE event on March 30 at Music Box (get on the list here while you still can).

The full Kaaboo 2017 lineup: 

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Pink
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
• Muse
• Weezer
• Jane's Addiction
• David Guetta
• Ice Cube
• Jason Derulo
• Logic
• Alanis Morissette
• Jackson Browne
• Andy Grammer
• Kesha
• Live
• X Ambassadors
• Garbage
• Milky Chance
• T-Pain
• Michael McDonald
• The Wallflowers
• DJ Diesel (Shaquille O'Neal)
• Machine Gun Kelly
• Pepper
• Timeflies
• Pete Yorn
• The Magpie Salute
• Smash Mouth
• The Knocks
• Dave Mason
• Toad the Wet Sprocket
• LANY
• Eric Burdon & the Animals
• Lost Kings
• Le Youth
• The Him
• The Tubes, featuring Fee Waybill
• Trevor Hall
• Fishbone
• The Motet
• The Shadowboxers
• Little Hurricane
• Sam Sparro
• Kap Slap
• Martin Jensen
• Led Zeppelin 2
• Emily Warren
• Lawrence
• The Stone Foxes
• One Drop
• SteevieWild
• Darenots
• The Last Internationale
• Ages and Ages
• Moonsville Collective
• Armors
• Luna Aura
• Jared & The Mill
• Ethan Tucker Solo Acoustic
• The Steppin Stones
• Tristen
• Cordovas
• Lost Beach
• Mamafesta
• Josh Arbour
• Zeal Levin
• Kira Lingman
• Trouble in the Wind
• Barenaked Ladies (Amplify VIP only)
• The Dan Band (Amplify VIP only)

An 82-year-old Little Italy man is redefining retirement by volunteering in kindergarten.

Silas Manspeaker, or “Coach Si” as he is known at the Monarch School, volunteers every day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the kindergarten class.

He reads, plays games, and occasionally serves as referee breaking up disagreements.

The Monarch School is unlike any other school in the country, because it only accepts kids impacted by homelessness.

More than half of the kids wake up in shelters, while others sleep in cars or on random couches.

Due to the obvious social challenges, many of the kids need extra attention, which Coach Si is quick to deliver.

After working as a businessman for most his life and travelling the world, he says volunteering in the class gives him purpose.

“People ask me why I do it and I say if you come over and spend the day you'll find out why, why would I not want to be with them? they love me I love them, we have fun together” said Coach Si.

A 7-year-old boy was taken to Rady Children's Hospital with a head injury after being struck by an Amazon van in Santee Thursday afternoon.

The incident occurred at 3:46 p.m. on the 10800 block of Woodside Avenue near the State Route 67. 

According to a witness, the boy was riding a scooter in the driveway of his home when he rolled into the street and was struck by the van.

At the time, he was not wearing a helmet, the witness told NBC 7.

The boy's injuries are not considered to be life-threatening.

He was conscious and talking when he was transported to the hospital.

No other information was available.

A woman, convicted of killing her son-in-law in Fallbrook three years ago, was sentenced Thursday to 50 years to life in prison.

Cynthia Cdebaca, 63, shot her son-in-law Geoward Flores Eustaquio 15 times, on Feb. 11, 2014, stopping twice to reload. 

The 53-year-old man was killed inside his home on Braemer Terrace. He was a military reservist, a real estate agent and a rugby coach for local kids.

According to investigators, Cdebaca fatally shot Eustaquio after he made a comment about her clothing. 

"This is definitely an example of how family matters can become complicated. But at the end of the day, no matter whether you're related or not, this was a premeditated, deliberate, willful first degree murder," said Deputy District Attorney, Keith Watanabe on Thursday. "The defendant planned, and executed the victim in this case."

She told investigators that if her son-in-law were alive, she would shoot him again.

After the shooting, Cdebaca threw the gun into a drainage ditch and went to Denny's to eat breakfast. She then went to Pechanga Resort & Casino to gamble, bought cigarettes at a liquor store and even visited a coffee shop.

Cdebaca was arrested at the coffee shop.

Her two grandsons spoke to NBC 7 exclusively, saying that Cdebaca often clashed with their father over his "tough love" style of parenting.

In Aug. 2014, Cdebaca was found competent to stand trial.

She convicted of first-degree murder by the jury in Feb., 2017.

UPDATE: Riders Brace for Travel Nightmare After Amtrak Derailment Wreaks Havoc at Penn Station

An Amtrak train bound for Washington, D.C., had a minor derailment as it was leaving New York's Penn Station at the height of Friday's morning rush, bumping an NJ Transit train and shattering windows but causing no serious injuries, authorities said. 

NJ Transit said one of its trains on the Montclair/Boonton line was coming into the Manhattan transit hub shortly after 9 a.m. when the departing Acela sideswiped it between the north tube and the station. Amtrak said its Acela Express Train 2151 from Boston "had a minor derailment while moving at a slow speed" leaving Penn, and then "made contact" with the NJT train. 

"The rear of the train was still on the platform, and all 248 passengers have exited the train onto the platform and into the station safely," the statement said. "Service into and out of New York Penn Station will be delayed while we investigate this incident." 

Photos posted to social media showed the accordion-like component between the cars of the Amtrak train crunched in one spot. More severe damage was apparent on the NJ Transit train; photos showed twisted pieces of metal in parts, and passengers said some windows of the back cars were knocked out. 

The Federal Railroad Administration said it sent investigators to the scene. 

Jordan Geary was sitting next to his wife on NJ Transit train 6214 when he says he heard a loud "explosion" next to his head. Some of the windows were disconnected and some smashed, Geary said, adding, "Thankfully everyone is okay." 

NJ Transit said about 1,000 people were on the train at the time and several minor injuries to customers and crew were reported, but everyone was expected to be OK. 

Scott Parsons, a passenger in the last car of the train, described hearing a loud screech. Bright sparks followed, he said, and the lights went out. 

PATH was cross-honoring tickets for both Amtrak, including Keystone Service, and NJ Transit riders, but photos showed PATH trains were jam-packed by late morning, and the evening commute was expected to be a nightmare. Click here for the latest transit alternatives.

Arrival and departure screens in Penn Station were littered with cancellations and delays. The MTA said Long Island Rail Road service was also experiencing delays.

The remains of two vaquitas, a critically endangered species of porpoise, were found in the waters off the coast of California in the span of one month. A conservation group calls the discovery alarming.

The vaquita porpoise is on the verge of extinction, with only 30 left in the world, conservation group Sea Shepard says.

"It is devastating," said OonaLayolle, captain of Sea Shepard. "It's been like three years we are now patrolling the north of the Gulf of California and this is really what we don't want to see. It's just so sad."

Loyolle, who has been heading the organization for four years now, said they work in collaboration with the Mexican government to battle illegal fishing and poaching in the oceans.

According to Sea Shepard, a pre-born vaquita was found floating in the Gulf of California, just south of San Felipe on March 12.

Just a week later, the carcass of a female adult vaquita was found in the waters off Baja California.

“Having a preborn death is devastating," Loyelle said.

Loyolle said the vaquitas are getting trapped by illegal fishing nets placed on the sea bed to catch the totoaba bass.

The fish are popular for their swim bladders which are smuggled into China and sold on the black market. Often, they are used for medicinal purposes, bringing in $20,000 per kilo, Loyolle said. 

She added that fisherman catch the totoaba, take the swim bladders and then throw the fish back into the sea. 

Sea Shepard crews found 17 floating dead totoabas without swim bladders recently. 

On March 14, they found 66 dead totoabas. Loyolle said the numbers tell an alarming story--that the market for swim bladders is getting bigger which could impact the vaquita population as well.

She said their organization is doing what it can to help the rare mammal.

“When we started this campaign, we wanted to do anything that was possible to save the Vaquita," she said. "But what we’re doing there is also saving so many other species because those nets are catching a lot of different marine creatures, like sharks [and] whales. So cleaning the bottom of the sea from all those illegal nets is really important.”

California Assemblyman Todd Gloria, D-San Diego, has introduced a bill to help save the vaquitas. The bill would make it illegal to possess or sell fish products caught in the northern Gulf of California with a gillnet.

Thousands of former Trump University students could get refunds equaling 80 percent of their tuition.

The President last year agreed to settle allegations of fraud at his now defunct university.

Court papers filed late Thursday afternoon confirm that students who paid for a three-day seminar and "Gold Elite" program would each get a refund of about $30,000.

Almost 4,000 former students would qualify for that 80 percent refund.

They joined a class action lawsuit against Trump and his Trump University.

Two of those former students are challenging the settlement.

You can view the full documents here.

But attorneys for the other plaintiffs said the settlement agreed to by President Trump is an excellent outcome for all the disgruntled former students.

“The numbers are in, and they end any debate about the fairness of this Settlement,” the lawyers wrote in their latest legal motion. “No rational actor could expect to do better at trial, especially in a case where…Class Members may have been required to put up individualized proof of their damages to get any relief."

They also note that the two dissenters make up just 0.05 percent of the class action.

A judge will hear those objections and is expected to approve or reject the proposed settlement at a hearing next week at San Diego’s federal courthouse.

According to the lawsuits, Trump University is accused of misleading students with unfulfilled promises of teaching them the secret to being successful in the real estate business.

Residents living near the San Ysidro outlets are angry at the City of San Diego for handing out parking tickets at Larsen Field, in an area that lacks sufficient parking.

One resident, Toribio Galaviz, is fighting a ticket he received for parking at Larsen Field near his home.

“We recently began to get ticketed for parking at a park, where we used to regularly park for more than 10 years,” explains Galaviz.

He received the 50 dollar citation on Wednesday night.  

Galaviz lives in an apartment complex with nearly 500 units. The shortage of parking is compounded by the traffic from the outlets across the street and people leaving their cars parked overnight while they vacation in Mexico.

The border is about a mile away.

Galaviz is concerned that constant tickets and towing fees will be detrimental to his community’s financial well being.

“I may be able to afford a ticket, but my neighbors might not be able to afford constant tickets or getting their cars towed,” said Galaviz.

Others worry about safety. Some people park up to a mile away from their homes in hopes of not getting a ticket.

“They are running that risk of being at night going to their cars,” said Guadalupe Galaviz, who has two sisters he worries about.

City officials say they are not the ones issuing the citations. Their parking enforcement personnel does not patrol during no parking hours.

San Diego Police said they recently received two calls for service for Larsen Field but only issued one citation.

The Justice Department is looking into whether U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-50th District), who represents parts of San Diego, violated campaign finance rules. 

The announcement comes after the House Ethics Committee conducted an investigation into a possible ethics violation and an inquiry launched by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.

The ethics panel did not disclose the nature of the investigation, but a Washington-based watchdog group filed a complaint last spring alleging that Hunter improperly used campaign funds to pay for tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.

The Justice Department is looking at the legality of about $60,000 going from Hunter's campaign committee toward the personal expenses.

The political funds he had spent over a nearly two-year period went to hotels as far away as Italy, posh department stores and restaurants, cigars, entertainment, jewelry, groceries, dental services, airfare, health care, school tuition, electricity, water and cable TV at his home in Alpine.

Hunter’s people cited sloppy records and bookkeeping.

On Thursday, internet traffic was busy with news that House Ethics Committee members have suspended their review of the spending, as the Justice Department investigates Hunter's actions.

Hunter’s lawyers, one a former U.S. Attorney in San Diego, issued a statement saying that Hunter "maintains that to the extent any mistakes were made, they were strictly inadvertent and unintentional."

"For his attorneys to say that this was just a case of 'Oospie'? That's not the kind of 'oopsie' we can afford," says Sean Van Diver, director of San Diego's chapter of the Truman National Security Project.

Van Diver, in an interview Thursday with NBC 7, said the Justice Department's focus on Hunter is serious business: "If you're an elected official, the buck stops with you. No matter what your staff is doing, no matter what the perception is, the buck stops with you."

Using their home as collateral, Hunter and his wife borrowed $57,000 in reimbursing his campaign committee after the payments in question came to light and created a furor.

His annual salary is $174,000.

Hunter's attorneys, Elliot S. Berke and Gregory A. Vega,  said in a statement to NBC 7 that the charges were in no way hidden from the FEC, rather, Hunter’s campaign reported the personal expenses in their quarterly reports.

“Last year, Congressman Hunter became aware of expenditure issues confronting his campaign committee. Out of an abundance of caution, he took corrective action in consultation with the FEC and, ultimately, he and his wife personally repaid the campaign approximately $60,000. Congressman Hunter intends to cooperate fully with the government on this investigation, and maintains that to the extent any mistakes were made they were strictly inadvertent and unintentional.”

Hunter, 40, represents parts of Escondido, Ramona, Alpine, Pala, Julian and other parts of East San Diego County. He won a fifth term representing San Diegans last fall. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A man has been arrested for a knife attack in the downtown area that happened Friday, according to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).

The suspect, 38 year-old Alessandra Conate, approached the male victim saying that he did not like the way he was looking at him, SDPD said.

The victim was waiting for a trolley on 500 C St. when Conate suddenly pulled out a small folding knife and attacked the victim, according to SDPD. The victim suffered a minor laceration to his left hand.

SDPD said Conate also punched the victim in the face.

The victim called San Diego police officers who were able to arrive and arrest Conate on scene at around 8 a.m.

SDPD said that Conate fought with police officers and even spit on one of them. The officers suffered minor injuries.

Conate was taken into custody and booked into County Jail. Detectives are now investigating the incident.

SDPD said that anyone with information related to the incident is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

An Instagram post claiming 14 girls had disappeared in D.C. over a 24-hour period went viral across social media Thursday. 

But that post is inaccurate. While the disappearance of any child is reason for concern, at no point in recent weeks have 14 girls disappeared from D.C. in a single day, police said Friday.

Since March 19, D.C. police have shared 20 missing person fliers on Twitter; 10 of these people were juveniles. As of Friday, six of these juveniles had been found; four still were missing.

D.C. police have said there has been no increase in the number of missing persons in their jurisdiction. They're just sharing information in a new way. 

"We've just been posting them on social media more often," Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Rachel Reid said.

Since implementing the tactic, Commander Chanel Dickerson, the new leader of the Youth and Family Services division, said the department has been able to close cases more quickly. 

But the increased social media attention has caused concern in the D.C. area, especially since most of the teens on the missing-persons fliers were black or Latino. D.C. has long had a large minority population and is currently about 48 percent black.

Derrica Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, called the police department's new tactic “a blessing and a curse,” WAMU reports.

When News4 spoke with Wilson last year, she expressed concerns about the lack of attention missing people of color get from the media.

But despite increased attention in recent weeks, some of the information being shared on social media by celebrities and bloggers is inaccurate, increasing concern in the community but spreading falsehoods.

Here's what you need to know about children reported missing in D.C.:

What Exactly Is Happening in DC?
According to local police data, the number of missing child cases in the District dropped from 2,433 in 2015 to 2,242 in 2016. The highest total recently, 2,610, was back in 2001.

So far this year, the District has logged a total of 501 cases of missing juveniles, many of them black or Latino, according to the police department. All but a handful have been solved.

Twenty-two juvenile cases remained open as of March 24, according to the department's website. Police only had the photos of 13 of these youth, who are considered “critical missing persons.”

That number changes frequently. The police department updates the number of current missing person cases daily. 

Does DC Have a Human Trafficking Issue?
All of the teens who have reported missing in 2017 left voluntarily, police spokeswoman Karimah Bilal said.

Dickerson said she thinks the department's new tactic has fueled concerns that teens in the city are being kidnapped.

"Because of the number of releases, there have been concerns that young girls in the District of Columbia are victims of human trafficking or have been kidnapped," she said. 

There's no evidence to suggest that D.C. has a human trafficking problem, the police spokeswoman said. 

"We look at every case closely to make sure that doesn't happen, but to my knowledge, that hasn't been a factor in any of our missing person cases," Bilal said. 

So far, all of the juveniles reported missing 2017 left their locations voluntarily, she added. 

Then Why Am I Seeing This All Over Social Media?
Several high-profile accounts, including some belonging to celebrities, have shared graphics containing inaccurate information about the number of missing juveniles in D.C. 

Actress Taraji P. Henson, rapper LL Cool J and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons were among the celebrities who shared the post claiming that 14 girls had vanished in a single day.

Some people deleted their posts once they were made aware of the inaccuracies. 

"When relaying information about this, we have to be careful we relay the correct info because these are all peoples little girls," singer Kehlani posted on her Instagram account after she deleted the inaccurate photo.

Why Do Teens Run Away?
A number of issues can factor into a child's decision to leave their home. According to the National Runaway Safeline, most of their callers identified family dynamics, peer and social issues or abuse as reasons why they left or were contemplating leaving. 

"We need to find out the underlying reasons that so many young people in the District of Columbia have chosen to leave home voluntarily because they feel they have no other alternatives," Dickerson said. 

Who Is Considered a 'Critical Missing Person'?
Police in D.C. define a “critical missing person” as any person under the age of 15 or over the age of 65.

The circumstances surrounding their disappearance can also result in a "critical missing" designation. Currently, 18 juveniles who were reported missing in 2017 have been listed as critical missing persons, according to the police department's website.  

Why Were No AMBER Alerts Issued for These Juveniles?
Missing children have to meet a set number of criteria to have an AMBER Alert issued. 

The Department of Justice recommends the following:

• There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.
• The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
• There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction.
• The child is 17 years old or younger.
• The child’s name and other critical data elements have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.

But none of the cases that are currently open in D.C. meet that criteria, police said. 

"We have no evidence in any of these cases that anyone was kidnapped or is the victim of sex trafficking," Dickerson said. 

What's Being Done to Help These Teens?
The police department's biggest push has been using social media to share information about missing people in the city. Dickerson said the department still needs the public's help. 

"In order to find out the root cause of this issue and ensure that our runaway numbers decrease, then we have to work together," she said Friday during a Facebook Live broadcast. 

Dickerson said adults should not let children stay in their homes without the permission of that child's parent. 

"That's what we found in some cases. We found our missing persons in the home with other adults," she said. 

Dickerson said anyone who sees a child out of school during school hours should get police involved. 

"There may be some issues going on with that child," the police commander said.

There are a lot more eyes on one of Southern California's most elusive predators, mountain lions.

Dave Bittner with the Wildlife Research Institute blames a combination of factors for the troubles facing the region's lions.

"In two generations, if we don't stop the decline, we won't have mountain lions in Southern California, and that would be a sad state of affairs," Bittner said.

Bittner is leading a project right now installing trap cameras around San Diego County's backcountry, and has put out the call for others to do the same.  Some people are already sharing their pictures.

"We're networking to get all these pictures of mountain lions," Bittner said.

The motion-activated cameras can be left for up to a year, capturing thousands of videos or still images day or night.

Bittner does not want to give exact locations of those cameras in order to protect the animals, but will say the cameras are being set up on a deer trail.

The goal is to see where the lions and their main food source are moving.

Freeways and other development have been cutting off the routes lions use to move around Southern California.

"The lions do not get back and forth often enough to breed and keep the population healthy," he said. "That's become one of the biggest problems."

The other issue affecting the animals is California is depredation, or legally killing a lion when it attacks pets or livestock.

According to the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife, more than 1,300 mountain lions have been killed statewide over the past decade and a half. 

Seventeen of those were killed in San Diego County.

He's hoping to eventually have 100 cameras in San Diego's backcountry. That type of expansion could take at least a decade.

Find out more about the project and the state's legislative history regarding the mountain lion here.

Democrats took to Twitter on Friday to mock the failure of the GOP's health care bill, usings GIFs of sinking ships and exploding buildings to mark the failure of the American Health Care Act, the Republican health care plan. 

Tim Ryan, a Democrate representative from Ohio, tweeted a GIF of what appears to be the Titanic breaking in two. He added no commentary. 

The House Democrats were more explicit, tweeting a GIF of an empty multi-story building collapsing, with the text: "The House Republican #TrumpCare health bill." 

Other Democrats were more serious even as they celebrated the failure of what Republicans hoped would be President Trump's first legislative victory. Instead the Republicans' substitute for the much maligned Obamacare was pulled from consideration by Speaker Paul Ryan with Trump's agreement after it was clear that Republicans did not have the votes to pass it.

Trump, who earlier had been insisting on a vote, told the Washington Post's Robert Costa that he did not blame Ryan for the bill's defeat. Trump insisted that Democrats were to blame, according to The New York Times.

Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, tweeted "Art of the Squeel" in reply, playing off of Trump's book, "Art of the Deal."

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania asked House Republicans to end their "obsession with repeal, & work in a bipartisan way to keep what's working and fix what isn't?"

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney taunted Trump and Ryan in his tweet, telling them, "We're not tired of winning yet. Ready when you are to talk real solutions to fix ACA for American people."

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called the defeat of the "disastrous Trump-Ryan health care bill" a major victory for working families and everyone who stood in opposition.

Finally the spokesman for former President Barack Obama, Kevin Lewis, tweeted out a 2010 photograph of Obama in a fighting stance on the day that the Affordable Care Act passed Congress.

The link to the Instagram account of Obama's former photographer, Pete Souza, was titled, "The Obama White House."